Harriet Potter and the Second Chance
by Seven-17
Summary: The world ended in Kaguya's hands. Twelve shinobi find themselves reborn in a different world, one filled with magic, a new type of chakra. And prophesies seem to find Naruko wherever she goes. Little do everyone know how their world was about to change with the presence of Konoha's No.1 Unpredictable Ninja! Fem!Naruto, Fem!Smart!Independent!Harry, eventual HPxDM. Temporary Hiatus!
1. The End and The Beginning

**A/N: This will be my second fanfiction. You could say it's an experiment with crossover fanfiction. I have a vague idea of how this is going to go, and all the Naruto characters I've planned to include have been decided... but who knows~**

**On a side note, my greatest apologies for those who read my first. I'm stuck on the third chapter and will be writing this for now. I'll probably pick up my previous fanfiction again sometime, but not any time soon. Again, I apologise. "**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

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**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

___§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)__§___

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech _**] **

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

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Chapter 1: The End and The Beginning (of The-Girl-Who-Lived_-Again_)

_Because death is the next great adventure._

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There was a war. A shinobi war, on a scale never seen before. It was a war where nations unite to defeat a common threat, where enemies formed alliances and worked as one. They were the Allied Nations, and every member a proud shinobi.

They fought against a dangerous foe, before one foe became two, and two foes became one. Heroes rose and their enemies fell. But some stories end in tragedy, and there was no happily ever after. The ultimate enemy revealed herself, one who could open worlds and cross dimensions, and the world was cast in darkness. The team that was broken, formed again only to be defeated.

Still, the end of their world was not the end of everything. When the last book closed on their story, another was opened, and a new story began.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Uzumaki Naruko. She had two best friends: Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Their lives were filled with tears and laughter. They died at the young age of seventeen, after a long fight protecting the people and things that they loved.

Once upon a time, a girl named Harriet Lily Potter was born, and the tale of Naruko continued.

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Harriet's first memory was that of a beautiful woman with flaming red hair. Her mother. Her mother's face would always be blurry in her mind. Sometimes she'd see a clear face, but it would quickly shift into another face, and sometimes these two faces would merge into one. Harriet couldn't understand it.

Her second memory was that of her father. He had messy black hair and wore glasses. His face was blurry too, just like her mother's, like one face superimposing on another. Still, she recalled that he would always be smiling. But for some reason, she always felt that his hair should have been blonde. Or at least she seemed to recall a time when he was blonde, but that could have been her imagination.

Her third memory was of three men, one sandy-haired, quiet and kind, another black-haired, loud and friendly, and the last was brown-haired, shy and mousy. Remus, Sirius and Peter were her honorary uncles. Remus had a black dog named Padfoot, and Sirius had a wolf named Moony. Or perhaps it was the other way around? She couldn't really remember. She didn't think she ever saw the wolf anyway. She didn't remember much of Peter either. But there was a rat named Wormtail, and she couldn't recall who it belonged to.

Her fourth memory was not a nice one. After all, four was an unlucky number. She thought it was associated with death. Harriet didn't know how she came to have such an idea though. But it was quite fitting. Her fourth memory was of her parents dying. It wasn't much—just a flash of brilliant green light, the sound of her mother screaming, a pair of gleaming red eyes, and someone's evil laughter (perhaps it belonged to the person with red eyes).

Harriet's fifth memory was of a gigantic man and a flying motorcycle. It was ridiculous, she knew, for motorcycles could not fly. It was as ridiculous as her dream of riding on a toy broomstick like a little witch. Or that dream about painting graffiti over the rock faces on Mount Rushmore. Except that the faces didn't look anything like the American presidents she saw on TV (in fact, she swore one of the carved faces resembled one of her father's face-the blonde one, not the black-haired one).

It had been five years since Harriet Potter was left on the doorstep of Number Four (very inauspicious, in Harriet's opinion) Privet Drive, and she was turning six. She had many memories, some clear, some jumbled up, as if she was living two lives at the same time.

Harriet was a quiet girl, a little cheeky, but mostly obedient (otherwise she'd get punished, because bad girls always do), and tended to think things through before acting. She had short messy black hair and startling green eyes—like that flash of light the night her parents died, she thought. But sometimes, Harriet wanted to be loud, and reckless, and play pranks on Dudley, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. She usually managed to restrain herself in time. She knew that if she gave in to her wild impulses, the house would have been razed to the ground before she turned five. She named this other side of her 'Naruko', and imagined this other side of her to have blonde hair and blue eyes with marks on her cheeks like whiskers.

Speaking of marks, Harriet had one on her forehead for as long as she could remember. It was shaped like a lightning bolt and looked kinda cool. She liked to think that it made her special, that it was the one that gave her mysterious powers like turning her teacher's wig blue and growing her hair back to their normal length after Aunt Petunia had shaved them all off. To her relatives however, it was a Mark of Freakiness.

The Dursleys hated anything remotely abnormal. So she, who had mysterious powers (that she found she could not control, much to her disappointment), was hated by her relatives. They almost never called her by name, preferring to use terms like 'girl' or 'freak', unless Uncle Vernon was in one of his worse moods—then he'd get particularly creative in his name-calling.

Harriet found that she didn't really mind the insults, though she soon found that names were supposed to hurt. She understood that her relatives feared her, and that people often misunderstood and hate what they fear. She couldn't explain how she came to have such wisdom at the tender age of five, but she did sometimes get a sense of deja vu when her uncle calls her a 'demon spawn'. And judging by the number of weird things that happened around her, she wouldn't be surprised if she was in fact the child of a demon. Sometimes, she'd even hear a quiet answering laughter at the back of her mind when she thought of something like that (and everyone knows that hearing voices was never a good sign).

Harriet's sixth birthday came and she was sent to spend the day at Mrs Figg's house as a present. Not that the Dursleys ever gave her a present on purpose. It just so happened that they had won free tickets to a theme park and were not about to bring her along. It was quite a good unintentional present all the same. It meant no chores for the day (she didn't mind chores, but they were boring and reminded her of some unpleasant moments that she could not remember) and the freedom to play in Mrs Figg's garden without the Dursleys bothering her. The only downside was the cats.

Harriet had many irrational fears. Now most fears are usually irrational, but Harriet knew that she had never been scratched by a cat (despite having been glared at by plenty at Mrs Figg's house) and she had always weeded the garden perfectly since she was four, and she had never drunk spoilt milk (the Dursleys, unpleasant as they were, have starved her before but have yet to feed her expired food). Yet, she found herself wary of little things like that, such as big furry stripped cats that reminded her of tiny tigers, wary of plucking out the wrong plant when weeding, wary of any milk given to her by the Dursleys.

Nonetheless, Harriet spent a very happy day at Mrs Figg's despite the many glaring cats (and she swears they seem too intelligent to be ordinary cats), and Mrs Figg, though somewhat mad, was quite kind and made her instant noodles (which she found was her favorite food thus far) for lunch. And thus, she came to enjoy having instant noodles every subsequent visit to Mrs Figg's house.

When Harriet turned seven, all her hazy memories became clear. It happened quite suddenly, and all at once, and she got an enormous head that may or may not have been due to the impact of her head hitting the sidewalk. Dudley and his friends were Harri-Hunting again, and though Harriet found that she was able to defend herself against Dudley alone (despite his height and weight advantage) or sometimes Dudley and Piers together, due to mysterious, unexplained instincts), when the gang came in a group ranging from three people to five, she often ended up lying in the grass or on the gravelly ground, half-conscious. It was most fortunate that her mysterious powers included healing at a miraculous rate.

So Harriet hit the ground in the game of Harri-Hunting, and thought she heard a loud crack. She vaguely wondered if her head was an egg and hoped brain juice wouldn't leak out like yolk if it was, before her muddled brain felt like it was suddenly stabbed by a blade made of cold fire and surprisingly, along with the pain came clarity. It was almost as if the impact had knocked the fog surrounding her memories out of her head.

That was the day Harriet Potter remembered her entire life as Uzumaki Naruko, from the time she was three and shunned by the villagers of Konoha to the time she died alongside her teammates in a sea of ice. It was somewhat like what was supposed to happen in stories of death in slow-motion. It was the whole life-flashing-before-your-eyes scenario. And Harriet thought she might have died from a cracked head when darkness took her, until she found herself in a dimly lit room that resembled a cave, with tiny streams and rivers running through it, and realised that she was merely in her mindscape and wasn't dead yet.

"Kurama!" she yelled, delighted at seeing the fox demon again. The nine-tailed beast seated before her, reddish-orange fur gleaming gold in the light of the torches overhead, observing her with fiery red eyes.

**_"About_** **_time,_** **_brat!"_** Kurama snapped, but without real malice or spite. Harriet grinned in response. She was glad that she could still understand her past life's language (which she now realise was Japanese) and she was almost certain that the tailed beast had missed her. But of course, being the tsundere he was, he was unlikely to admit it.

_"I'm so glad to see you again! How are you here though?" _Harriet, on the other hand, had no qualms expressing her delight at seeing the demon. They had become friends at last (even if Kurama was in denial about it) after a not-quite-ideal start (inevitable, considering the typical nature of a demon and its host), but had been forcefully separated during the war.

**_"I'm not sure myself. It seems like I have been sealed within you again, this time by whatever divine entity that reincarnated us." _**

Naruko had been a jinchuuriki—a demon host/vessel/container—since she was one, when he parents sealed the demon fox into her to save the Hidden Village. Both her parents, Uzumaki Kushina (a red-head just like her current late mother) and Namikaze Minato (a blonde who was given the title of Fourth Hokage for his deeds for the village), died that day, leaving her an orphan shunned by the village because of the demon sealed within her, while her parentage was kept from her until much later in her life when she found out that her parents were famous heroes.

Harriet was now aware of the similarities between her current life and her past life. In both lives she was an orphan with a redheaded mother. In both lives she was treated like dirt and shunned by those around her for her 'freakiness'. _Though_, she thought somewhat bitterly, _at_ _least Naruko had the Third Hokage looking out for her and then there was Iruka-sensei who was always kind to her. And she didn't need to work for food and shelter. The Sandaime had made sure of that. And when she finally had to do chores in the form of D-rank missions, she had Team Seven to do them with, and was paid enough for little luxuries._

Because here, in Little Whinging, Surrey, there was no one who was nice to her. Well, maybe with the exception of Mrs Figg. Maybe. Not that she minded. Though being used to it didn't mean it didn't hurt somewhere in the back of her mind, a dull throbbing sort of ache. But, on the bright side, she had Kurama here with her. Being friends with the grumpy demon did help. As well as ninja will and stamina to do bear with her slave-driving relatives and resist the urge to use them as knife-throwing practice... However... Perhaps it was time for her to live up to her Number One Unpredictable Ninja and Prankster Queen title again.

**_Kit, there's something else that you should know... _**the fox demon said, and Harriet immediately paid full attention to the beast. Kurama usually called her 'brat' (amongst other things, like 'runt'), unless it was a truly serious matter, then he'd either call her by name or 'kit'. He never explained why.

_"What_ _is_ _it?"_ Harriet asked with a frown. Whatever this 'something else' was, Kurama sounded like he wasn't very pleased with it.

**_"Well... How much of your parent's death do you remember? Lily and James Potter. Not Kushina and Minato."_**

_Oh_. Those were her parents' names. _Lily_ _and_ _James_.

_"Not much. Just screaming, red eyes, laughter and green light_," Harriet replied. Kurama was silent for a moment, seeming to consider how to say what he wanted to say. Anyone else might have looked disturbed, or sympathetic, but Kurama was a nine-tailed demon fox, and hardly spared a thought about sentiments.

**_"Alright,"_** he finally said. **_"You see, on that night, the night of a festival I don't really understand _**(here, Harriet wanted to add that she didn't really understand the whole wearing costumes and asking for candy business either, though it sounded like a lot of fun, much like the festivals she used to attend in Konoha, wearing masks and eating snacks)**_, a dark wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort came to kill you. Your parents died trying to save you and it was your mother's love for you and her sacrifice that you survived what is known as the Killing Curse. Apparently you're the first in history to have survived being hit by it."_**

_"Wait._ _What's all this wizard and curse thing?"_ Harriet interrupted.

**_"Let's just say wizards and witches exist—your parents were wizarding folk, and they use magic and spells and whatnot like in those fairytales in this life. Oh, and you're a witch too. It seems like magic is a special form of chakra, somewhat like demon or sage chakra,"_** Kurama explained, then waited until Harriet seemed to have processed this lot of new information before continuing, **_"When the curse rebounded on the dark wizard because it could not touch you, the dark wizard was—there was—an explosion happened, and the dark wizard was destroyed. However... A piece of the dark wizard's soul seems to have entered you in the chaos through the scar on your forehead caused by the rebounded curse."_**

Harriet froze. Rebound. Curse. Scar. Destroy. Soul. Piece. What? Her mind couldn't seem to understand what she just heard. Did something short-circuit in her brain? She repeated Kurama's words to herself a few more times. Then—

_§I think it's about time I introduce myself.§_ The voice was soft and smooth, but it instantly made Harriet wary, because it sounded like it might belong to a predator, a velvety black panther perhaps. Yet, the words spoken were gravelly hisses that she found she could understand as well as Japanese and English. It was a language that sounded harsh yet captivating and familiar to her. Familiar... Why? Harriet didn't think her mind was back to functioning normally yet. So she looked around for some clue...

There was another person in the room.

The stranger was standing by an archway that looked like it should be fitted with a door. He had short white hair that seemed slightly wavy, and blood red eyes that was in stark contrast to his hair color and pale skin that seemed more translucent than white, as if all its color had been drained away. She could see faint thin blue and red lines, a cobweb of blood vessels, mapped out beneath his skin-cheeks, neck, arms, long-fingered hands. And he looked far too thin, not exactly starving-person-in-poverty thin but more like eating-little-for-days-may-be-ill thin. He was wearing a simple black shirt and long black pants, and boots of some shimmering leathery material, which meant that she could see how lean (which was an understatement) he was. And she vaguely noted that the black of his clothes only served to further emphasize his paleness.

She wasn't bothered by his strange coloring though. White hair and red eyes were nothing compared to the other strange looking shinobi she has encountered before (one such example would be a blue-skinned half-shark shinobi).

_§Who_ _are_ _you?§_ Harriet asked, and realised that she had replied in that strange language. She watched as the stranger raised an eyebrow, his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants, and was suddenly captured by the intensity of his eyes. Like a prey trapped in the gaze of—then the numbness in Harriet's mind disappeared and she recognized the familiarity of the language and the stranger's gaze. The language was the speech of snakes and the stranger's gaze reminded her of a viper before it strikes. The image of a large purple snake (Manda, she was sure Orochimaru had called it) flashed through her mind for a moment.

_§My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. However, I am but a piece of the original, also known as Lord Voldemort.§ _The stranger grinned then. It was a sharp cold grin.

Dark killer wizard or not, at least he seemed less creepy than Orochimaru to Harriet. The key word was _seemed_. But she had to be sure. So she asked, _§I don't really understand the piece of... soul... original... thing, but... how old are you?§ _He looked young and old at the same time. His appearance was that of a young man in his twenties, but there was air about him that suggested of years of experience. That, and something in his eyes made him seem like one of the Legendary Sannin, ancient and dangerous. Naruko had made the mistake of underestimating Tsunade at first, but soon learnt that surface appearances are often deceiving.

_§As a soul fragment, I am a year younger than you.§_ Riddle said, then added with a smirk of sorts, _§But as a wizard, I am old enough to be your grandfather.§_

Harriet gulped. _§You're not a pedophile... Right?§_

For a moment, Riddle seemed speechless. _§What?§_

**_"Hey, what's going on?! I don't understand any of that hissing," _**Kurama finally interrupted, sounding rather impatient.

_"Oh. I just asked _Riddle-san_ if he's a pedophile," _Harriet said. The demon fox choked on his laughter, knowing that the girl was thinking about how the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru, had hunted down her best friend, Uchiha Sasuke, for his body.

_"I am not a pedophile,"_ snapped Riddle in Japanese, though one could tell from the way he spoke that he preferred English. Harriet looked relieved.

_"Oh good. Now what's a soul fragment? Or a piece of soul?" _she said.

**_"It's like how the _****bijuu_ are all parts of the _Juubi_. Voldemort would be the '_Juubi_' in this case, and this soul fragment talking to you would be a '_bijuu_' and you would be its container, a '_jinchuuriki_', called a horcrux," _**Kurama explained. It was an analogy that Harriet understood.

"Okay_, _so...What do I call you? Are you fine with Riddle-san?" she asked Riddle, who stared at her with a slight frown and a contemplative expression.

"You may call me Marvolo, or Lord Voldemort," he said after a while. Harriet pondered these names. It seemed like he didn't like his first nor last name, and wanted to be respected, if his self-given title was of any indicator. But then, Naruko never really gave a damn about respectful titles before. And 'Voldemort-dono' or 'Lord Voldemort' was such a mouthful.

"How about Tom-kun? Or Hebi-sama? Or Tori-ue?" Harriet suggested cheekily. The mindscape began steadily filling with Killing Intent. But Naruko had faced S-ranked Missing-nin, unstable jinchuuriki, destructive Uchiha and mad powerful women before. Some Killing Intent wasn't going to faze her, so she continued grinning. Riddle glared at her, then realised that she wasn't going to give in to it, took a deep breath and tried to quell his anger at her show of disrespect.

"Hebi means 'snake' in Japanese, right? And tori means 'bird'?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice, and Harriet ignored the danger suggested in the tone, opting for fake obliviousness.

"Hai! And 'Tori' is also a combination of the first syllables of your first and last name," she said, still grinning. It wasn't like he could actually harm her, right? Besides, she had Kurama on her side. Riddle shut his eyes, then finally grounded out, "Anything's fine. Just... Not... '_Tom_-kun'. Or _Riddle_-san."

"Yes!" Harriet cheered, and made a show of celebrating her victory over his name. Kurama sighed in exasperation and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like **_"I do not know this idiot."_**

"Ne~ Hebi-sama~ you're a wizard right? Or at least part of a wizard? Can you teach me magic?" Harriet suddenly said, as she danced over to Riddle with puppy-dog eyes, which Riddle regarded with an indifferent look, for psychopathic dark wizards hardly fell for such tricks that appealed to human emotion.

"What would I get in return for teaching you magic?" he asked coldly. Harriet thought about it.

"Well, it seems like a suitable way for you to pay rent for living in my head... I mean, Kurama pays me in the form of chakra... " Harriet trailed off when he gave her a glare, and hurriedly continued on with, "I'll call you Sensei, sometimes, and... What do you want?"

Riddle stared at her, once again giving her a contemplative look. Then he slowly said, "I want... a body... for myself."

**_"Kit, do take into consideration that this is a dark evil wizard who killed your parents before you agree with anything,"_** Kurama interjected, when he saw that Harriet seemed about to agree. She glanced at him.

_"So it'll be like setting you free before we became friends."_

**_"We're not friends,"_** Kurama grumbled. **_"But yes, the notion is correct."_**

Harriet grinned. "Okay. So, Tori-ue, I'll help you get a body, in return for teaching me magic, if you promise to continue teaching me magic even after you get a body, and... Promise not to kill or seriously maim anyone unprovoked. Basically, if anyone has done you no wrong besides existing, don't kill or maim him or her, yeah? And you can't kill or maim any of my friends either, even if they offend you."

"I was once the Dark Lord Voldemort, and you're asking me not to kill whoever I want to?" Riddle sounded more incredulous than enraged, despite the Killing Intent that was still permeating the room. Harriet blithely nodded. "And you have to swear on it."

Riddle glared at her, but he did want to have a body. It wasn't pleasant being stuck in someone else's head, especially hers. And he noted that she said 'kill or seriously maim', which meant that he could still attack anyone he wanted, so long as the person didn't end up dead or missing a limb. And anyone who provoked him first was a free target. And even if he wasn't allowed to kill anyone he as he pleased, his followers could still do the job.

"Alright. In return for teaching you magic whenever I am not busy, for as long as you want, and not kill or seriously maim anyone who did not provoke me first, you will help me get a body. I will not kill or maim your friends only if you would join me."

Harriet blinked. "Join you?"

**_"There is a wizarding war that Voldemort started, and is temporarily on hold due to his unexpected demise due to his foolishness,"_** Kurama said, before Riddle could reply. **_"To join him is to join the Dark side which your parents fought so hard against. And if the prophesy about you is correct, you're the only one who can stop him."_**

"Oh... So what's the uh... What's your mission in this war?" Harriet asked Riddle absently, her mind now on a certain movie series she'd heard her cousin talk about that featured outer space battles and people with swords made of light. The bad guys had been on the 'Dark side', she recalled.

"To dominate over Muggles and rid the magical world of Mudbloods," he automatically said.

**_"Non-wizarding folk and wizarding folk with non-wizarding parents,"_** supplied Kurama, at Harriet's questioning look.

"Ah, I see. Sounds like world domination. But why would you want to get rid of those with parents who are civilians?"

**_"They're not exactly civilians, brat. Muggles don't hire the wizarding folk to do missions like in the shinobi world," _**Kurama said at the same time as Riddle who said, "These 'civilians' as you call them, are inferior to us wizarding folk, and should not know about magic. That's what the Statute of Secrecy is for. To keep the knowledge of the magical world away from Muggles. Mudbloods endanger that, because for every witch or wizard born, one more family of Muggles learn about magic. In addition, their blood is impure, and they are unworthy of magic. Purebloods who—"

"Hold it. In other words, you're a wizard version of Hitler, and are supporting uh... Bloodism?" Harriet said, while thinking to herself about how the whole Mudblood-pureblood business sounded ridiculously like wizards were some sort of animal where pedigree was of importance.

Riddle looked affronted by her interruption and her choice of words, but did not express his displeasure aloud. Instead, he merely agreed with her interpretation, and she began staring into space, thinking about it. Finally, she sighed loudly.

"Whatever. It sounds like a load of crap that I don't understand. Never did like complicated stuff like that," she said (and she did not care much for history and politics except for her former dream to become the Hokage, which seemed simpler than whatever was going on in the world she currently lived in.) "But I don't like the idea of you killing people and I know that whatever the 'Dark side' is, it can't be good. How about this. I won't fight against you, but neither will I join you. I won't take sides until I figure this whole war out."

When Riddle realised that was the best compromise he could get (and it did not escape his notice that his desire and need for a body was greater than her desire and need to learn magic), he agreed to the deal. Harriet then asked if there was some way to have a binding contract, which made him reevaluate her intelligence in spite of her seemingly naive and foolish behavior. He supposed, if what the demon fox told him was true, she _was_ once a ninja, though he couldn't imagine how.

In the end, Riddle and Harriet swore on their magic, with Riddle doing so quite reluctantly, because Harriet demonstrated another show of intelligence, by clarifying that his followers were an extension of him, and hence he was not allowed to order them to help him maim or kill innocents, though it was alright if they do so on their own initiative. Still, he badly needed a body to make his ascent to power once more.

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Later on, Harriet woke up back in her cupboard with something wrapped around her head. It was a horribly crude bandage that was supposed to help with whatever head injury she had sustained earlier. She vaguely wondered if she'd already be dead if not for Kurama, but paid little attention otherwise to her near-death experiences. After all, it wasn't like she hadn't nearly died a couple of times before (and actually dying in her previous life), and she had better things to care about, such as the existence of magic.

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**Thanks for reading my first chapter~ Please review~! Also, feel free to ask questions~ I might not answer them all (if they're spoilers), but I'll try my best. Next chapter will be up next week (though I probably won't be able to update this regularly all the time ^^")**

**Ja, until next time,**

**~ Shichi**


	2. The Snakes

****Lots of thanks for those who have reviewed/followed/favourited this story~! I'm actually quite surprised by the number of ******people who like this, especially since I only posted one chapter so far. Well, I'm not complaining~! XD Glad you guys like the story so far ^^**

****Here's the second chapter... Enjoy~!****

****Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Harry Potter.****

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**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

___§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)__§___

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech _**] **

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

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Chapter 2: The Snakes (and the Vanishing Glass)

_Because anyone who talks to snakes must engage in suspicious activity._

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Four years passed since Harriet recovered the memories of her past life and made a deal with a soul fragment of Lord Voldemort. Harriet had since then reacquired most of her kunoichi skills from her previous life (she couldn't find a chance to try out the Rasengan or any other higher level techniques safely) and had managed to summon Gamakichi and Gamatatsu (Riddle expressed his discomfort about talking toads, much to Harriet's amusement) despite no longer being Uzumaki Naruko, apparently because despite her change in identity and physical body, her chakra had remained the same. (It seemed like the Toads were able to travel across space and time and even worlds when summoned.)

Life was good for Harriet, as she had indeed displayed enough troublemaking abilities and 'freakiness' for her relatives to treat her slightly better than before (she still did chores because it was good training opportunity and was entertaining when she got creative with it, such as the time she walked up the wall while cleaning the house and freaked her relatives out) and allow her to have Dudley's second bedroom. Dudley couldn't do anything about it either, because he and his gang now found themselves getting their asses kicked whenever they tried.

She also felt more comfortable with Mrs Figg, now that Kurama had all but confirmed that her cats seemed to have some bakeneko characteristics, or at least, some ninneko attributes, which seemed to imply that Mrs Figg might be connected in some way to the magical world, and reminded Kurama of some old cat lady called Nekobaa whom Naruko had never met before. Harriet couldn't be sure though, because Mrs Figg seemed very ordinary, if a little batty, aside from the cats she kept.

Still, Hari would sometimes find herself lying on the roof at night (when it was dark and everyone was asleep and no one was around to shriek and panic upon seeing a girl up on the roof apparently about to fall to her death), staring at the stars, wondering what happened to her honorary uncles. They were her parents' good friends, so they had to be wizards, if her parents were. But she's heard no news from the wizarding world ever since she came to Privet Drive. Kurama and Riddle both had no idea either. Hari hoped they were fine. She would like to meet them again one day.

Upon some discussion amongst 'Kichi, Kurama, Riddle (who found himself uncharacteristically lost in the dealings of the shinobi world) and herself, it was decided that she should try signing a contract with the Snakes, since she was now a Parseltongue and had developed an affinity for them through Riddle. Though shinobi rarely had more than one species of summons, Sasuke had managed it, which meant that it was likely for Naruko to manage it to, especially with Kurama's help. It would be advantageous for her to have two animal summons.

However, there was a problem of getting the Snake Scroll, and in the end, they managed to speak with the Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru, through 'Kichi, who told her that she could simply attempt the Summoning Technique while applying magical chakra instead of the usual chakra. There was the problem of getting back from wherever the Summoning Technique brought her to, but that was easily solved when Harriet made a shadow clone.

Shadow-Clone-Harriet (who was called Harriet 1 for convenience—Harriet herself was Harriet 0) found herself in Ryuuchi Cave after following Gamamaru's instructions. It confirmed a few things: First, that the legendary home of the Snakes had been untouched by the destruction wrought by Kaguya in the Shinobi War, just like Mount Myouboku. Second, that she did indeed have a magical affinity to snakes. The reverse summoning invoked when a shinobi attempts the Summoning Technique without signing a contract would not have worked otherwise.

Ryuuchi Cave was quite unlike Mount Myouboku, with muted cooler colors and had a darker overall atmosphere. And the place seemed less friendly too. There were a few Snakes around, but they barely paid her much attention, and the moment she approached them, they disappeared. Only one or two gave her a partially curious partially wary glance before slithering off as well. None of the Snakes seem frightened of her though. The way they'd left, it was quite clear to Harriet 1, who was based on a girl who was no longer the entirely oblivious Naruko, that they were avoiding her the way royalty may avoid commoners.

**_Or the way Rii-tan avoids Muggles, _**Kurama commented, which would have resulted in a mild headache as Riddle expressed his displeasure at the demon fox's altogether disregard for his name preferences… If he had been around. As it was, she was Harriet 1, and had no Riddle in her head though she was still connected to the demon fox. Which was good. Because Kurama, knowing that Riddle desired respect, often went further than her Boss (the original Harriet) in his naming of Riddle. Riddle's intelligence was the only thing preventing Kurama from actually calling him an idiot or anything related. Of course, since Riddle couldn't do anything to the tailed beast, so he took out his irritation on the Boss instead.

Harriet 1 scowled and wandered about. At least none of the Snakes had attacked her, she told herself, trying to drive away the imaginary black cloud that had started to form over her head. As she roamed the Cave, she realised it was getting darker and darker, until she could hardly see. So she concentrated on her magic and formed a pale blue light in her hand.

Wandless magic, she had learnt, was a common occurrence for children in the form of accidental magic, but was difficult to control. Most witches and wizards use wands to help them direct their magic. However, Boss had found that she could use simple wandless magic such as producing light or unlocking locks.

Kurama theorized that since it was a form of chakra, the chakra control she got from her previous life allowed her to wield magic more easily than normal witches and wizards. That and the fact that she seemed to have a lot of magical chakra that had originally been sealed up (and released with the help of Riddle). It seemed like no matter what life she had, she would be a chakra powerhouse.

As Harriet 1 continued through the Cave, she found that there were glowing plants illuminating parts of the Cave. Still, she did end up tripping over a rock despite the dim lighting and her usually stellar kunoichi skills. She landed on something cool and firm and... Breathing.

Within seconds, a very alarmed Harriet 1 found herself comfortably snuggled in the large coils of a Giant Snake. A list of spells and jutsu ran through her mind before the Snake mumbled something that sounded like, _"Go and sleep."_

_"Wait._ _What?_ _I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall onto you or—"_ Harriet 1 said, and was cut off by the glare of the Snake. It had pale gold-green eyes, like a pair of peridot gemstones.

_"You woke me up, noisy kid. Now be quiet until I'm done with my nap,"_ the Snake said, sounding mildly annoyed. So a bewildered Harriet 1 obediently stayed still until the Snake fell asleep, before sighing. What had she gotten herself into?

_"You shouldn't have woken her,"_ a passing Snake commented. The Snake was about the size of a python, considerably smaller than the Snake whose coils she was trapped in. Come to that, the Giant Snake wrapped around her seemed to be thicker than a pillar, and though the Snake was coiled around her, she had a feeling that uncoiled, the Snake would be at least 24 metres (approximately 80 feet) long.

_"Well, I didn't mean to,"_ Harriet 1 replied with a huff. The Snake chuckled.

_"You should probably go to sleep too. _Nibuya-hime_ probably won't wake up again for another hour... Unless you wake her again, but I wouldn't advise that,"_ the Snake said, before slithering away. Harriet 1 stared at the Snake leaving and sighed again.

**_Perhaps you should just go to sleep, clone brat,_** Kurama chuckled. **_I don't think this Snake is going to eat you anytime soon. _**

Harriet 1 did fall asleep later, and was awoken by thick snake coils shifting around her. She yawned and opened her eyes to find herself face-to-face with the Snake called Nibuya.

_"Next time, don't disturb me while I'm sleeping, noisy kid,"_ Nibuya said. _"Now what are you doing roaming Ryuuchi Cave? Are you a new Summoner?" _

_"Uh... Yeah? I guess? I'm just a shadow clone though, and Boss didn't sign the contract though. I'm a bit lost here. Got reverse summoned when performing the Summoning Technique,"_ Harriet 1 replied. Nibuya sniffed her, tongue flitting in and out of her mouth.

_"You smell of Toad,"_ the Snake commented.

_"Well, Boss was originally a Toad Summoner. And we've worked with Toads before. And also achieved Toad Sage Mode,"_ Harriet 1 said honestly. Nibuya seemed surprised.

_"And yet you have an affinity with Snakes. You are a strange one, noisy kid. What's your name?"_

_"Harriet. Last name Potter. But I—Boss used to be called Naruko. Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko."_

_"You're the Toad girl! I've heard of you from _Manda-jiisan_ and _Aodaichi_. You're _Uchiha-san_'s friend, right? Your new name is strange. And you seem younger than I expected."_

_"Uh.. Yeah, I guess. That's me. You know Manda and Aoda?"_

_"I am Nibuya, Princess of the Snakes," _Nibuya said, not in a haughty tone, but in a blunt matter-of-fact way. _"_Manda-jiisan_ was my _shishou_ for awhile. _Aodaichi_ is my _senpai_. And I know most of the other _Kyoudaichi _here."_

Harriet 1 stared at the Snake Princess. She evidently learned her manners from Manda (which is to say, learned no manners at all). Not that Harriet 1 minded. She herself (and her Boss) cared naught for proper honorifics and stuff like that. After all, to Naruko, the Third Hokage was Jii-san, Tsunade was Baa-chan and Jiraiya was Ero-sennin. Though as Harriet, she did learn to be a little more polite (Riddle had taught her how charm and 'masks' could be useful to get what she wants, which only served to convince Boss that he was a wizard Hitler—she cared little about history but she knew that Hitler had been a charismatic leader of the Nazis). And she would her manners now that she was in the coils of a Snake. She was fairly confident of her ability to escape if the Snake decided to attack her, but she _was_ there to sign a contract with the Snakes, not start a fight.

_"_Nibuya-er-hime_, do you think I could sign a contract with the Snakes?"_ Harriet 1 asked.

The Snake snorted. _"You don't have to call me _Nibuya-hime_, tadpole. Sounds troublesome. Now follow me and we'll get you the Scroll."_

_"Eh? Troublesome?"_ Harriet 1 echoed as she found herself riding Nibuya because the Snake had begun moving while Harriet 1 was still clambering over her to get out of her coils.

_"Yeah. Usually whenever I'm called that, I end up in some sort of tiring polite conversation,"_ grumbled the Snake. Then she seemed to grow even larger than before as she gained speed slithering through the caverns. Harriet 1 briefly wondered if her full size was as big as Aoda.

The journey was a silent one, as Nibuya didn't seem inclined to talk, and Kurama was silent. After some time, Nibuya stopped in a particular cavern where another Snake was coiled around a huge scroll. Within minutes, Harriet 1 had written the katakana of her English name in the Scroll in her blood and it was done. Then she boldly asked Nibuya to bite her and was dispelled in a cloud of smoke upon being bitten, her memories and experiences transferred to the original Harriet.

Once Harriet finished processing her shadow clone's memories, she pondered on how to summon a Snake without arousing suspicion from her neighbours. She was, at the time, in the Dursley's backyard. (She was supposed to be weeding the garden.) Summoning the Toads had been easy, as Gamakichi and Gamatatsu knew what size to appear in depending on how much chakra she applied. They were her personal summons after all, particularly 'Kichi.

However, she wasn't sure what would happen when she tried summoning a Snake. As a new summon, she wasn't sure if she'll need to use extra chakra for the Snakes to respond, but if she used too much... Well, the first time she succeeded in summoning a Toad was when she applied too much chakra and Gamabunta ('Kichi and 'Tatsu's father, and Boss Summon of the Toads) had appeared. He was at least 30m tall (approx. 100 feet), and would easily flatten two houses.

In the end, Harriet attempted the Summoning Technique with the same amount of chakra as she usually did to summon Gamakichi in his small form, which was the size of a pomelo. Fortunately, it worked, and a Snake the size of a pit viper appeared below her palm in a cloud of smoke.

_§We meet agai—Wait.§ _Nibuya said, then, yawning, _"Excuse me. I was sleepy and just about to take another nap. Hello again, _Hari-sama_."_

It was a combination of a lazy personality reminiscent of a certain young genius shinobi, the pale peridot eyes and Nibuya's voice that clued Harriet in on the identity of the Snake.

The section of Ryuuchi Cave where her clone had met Nibuya had been too dim for her to determine the color of the Snake. Now that they were under the light of the late afternoon sun, she could clearly see that Nibuya was a dark wine red (**_like blood, _**came the soft whisper of two mind-voices in sync) with purplish-black diamond-shaped markings running down it, starting from her forehead and fading down her tail. She also had a black streak across each eye that reminded Harriet vaguely of Orochimaru, except that these markings actually looked nice on her. (Of course, there was the fact that the markings were meant to be on a snake and not on a human.)

Harriet laughed. _"You know, I do understand the language of snakes. So there was actually no need for you to switch to human language? _Hari-sama_... _Hari_. Hey, that's a good one."_

**_It's certainly easier to pronounce in Japanese. And you're tiny, sharp and annoying, just like a needle,_** teased Kurama. Harriet snorted. _I'll take that as a compliment._

_"You understand snake language?"_ Nibuya sounded mildly fascinated. _"That would be convenient during... Oh. Are you aware that I'll be your personal Snake summon from now on?" _

_"Yeah. In this world, it's called _Parseltongue_. Few can speak it. It's uh... A magical kekkei genkai. I'm honoured to have you as a personal summon but... Are you aware that this world—"_

_"—Is different from the shinobi world? Yes." _Nibuya sounded amused as she cut Harriet off. _"_Aoda-kun_ told me just now. Met him after your clone was dispelled. He explained to be the whole thing. Apparently, _Uchiha-san_ had been reincarnated in this world as a... What do you call that? A _mahoushi_? A "_wi-za-ru-do_" I think he called it. What a strange word. I suppose it's the same for you? You're a magic user?"_

Harriet had not been expecting that. But it did save her some time, effort and breath. And there was a tightness in her chest. As if her heart had grown too big for it. Sasuke was alive! As a different person perhaps, but he was alive, at that was what mattered to her. If Sasuke had been reincarnated, then Sakura might have been too. And perhaps Kakashi. And Hinata. And Kiba. Ino. Shikamaru. _Ohh... Wouldn't that be great?_

**_Wouldn't what be great, brat? You forget I don't hear all of your thoughts. But if you're thinking about seeing your friends again... Well, you do know that this world is rather... big, right? _**

_It seems like you know what I was referring to even without hearing the rest of my thoughts anyway, _Harriet sighed. _And yes, it did occur to me... Do you Sasuke would be in Australia or something?_

**_I can imagine him in a tree with a koala, _**Kurama said so seriously that Harriet laughed. Meanwhile, Riddle tried his best to ignore the two of them. And the Snake. While ordinarily, he liked snakes and would be interested in a snake that could speak both Japanese and Parseltongue and change size at will, he'd had enough of shinobi culture for the day. Culture shock, Harriet had observed.

_"Nibuya, Did Aoda tell you where Sasuke is?"_ Harriet asked.

_"I think I recall him saying that the Uchiha was in some place called " _No-ru-we_". Come to that, where are we?"_

_"Oh. You mean _Norway_? That's still in _Youroppa, _so it isn't too bad, I guess. We're in uh... _Ingurando_,"_ Harriet said thoughtfully, and wondered if she should become penpals with Sasuke.

_"Yes. That place. But what's _Youroppa_?" _said Nibuya.

_"_Europe_. It's uh... A really big section of the world with many countries in it. Norway and England are two of the countries in Europe," _Harriet explained. _"By the way, does Aoda know about me yet?"_

_"Oh... Okay? Well, I didn't get to tell Aoda anything, because he left soon after he realised I was yawning and wasn't going to bother staying awake for long," _Nibuya said sheepishly (as sheepishly as a snake can manage).

_"Good. Don't let him know about me. I don't want Sasuke to know I'm alive yet. I'm planning to find out more about him first, since I'm still not sure how he really feels about Konoha and Team Seven. You can let him know that there's another Snake Summoner called Hari though,"_ Harriet instructed. Nibuya agreed, not really understanding the whole human frenemy concept (because a friend was an ally and an enemy a threat to be eliminated, so how could a they be allies yet foes?) and couldn't be bothered to try. The mere thought about it felt like the beginning of a headache.

_"Hmm... I think that's about it. You can go back and have your nap now,"_ Harriet said. Nibuya didn't disappear back to Ryuuchi Cave however. Instead, she stretched herself out in the warm sunlit grass.

_"Meh. I think I shall stay here for awhile. It feels rather comfortable here and the scenery is nice."_

Harriet looked around, not seeing how the scenery could be nice. It was the typical 'scenery' of a well-kept garden looking out to a road. She glanced back at the sunbathing Snake and shrugged. She didn't mind letting the Snake lie around in the garden, so long as her relatives never saw her. But she figured she wouldn't have to worry too much. After all, the Snake was more intelligent than the average snake, and was from the shinobi world, and should have some skills in staying hidden when needed.

Harriet, enlisting the help of Nibuya, spent the next few days researching on her Uchiha friend-rival-enemy.

She found out that Sasuke was now a pureblood wizard named Azraellus Cieran Hayes, who was half-Norwegian, quarter-English and quarter-Irish. He had dark reddish-brown hair (like the mixed color of chestnut and blood, said Nibuya, making Harriet wonder if everyone she was 'friends' with had a fascination with blood) and dark gray eyes. He was also her age. Afterwards, it was Nibuya who suggested the unconventional method of exchanging letters (once Harriet had explained to her what penpals were) by letting her be the 'messenger snake' for the first letter only (because she was too lazy to continue that role for long, though her princess ego may have been a factor as well) before continuing the exchange via Sasuke's Hawk.

It was clear that Sasuke had no idea who 'Hari' was, after the first few letters, and was quite interested in contact with fellow shinobi. Fortunately for Harriet, the Hawk could not talk, and could not tell Sasuke anything about Harriet. And even if it could, Naruko's chakra signature was easily masked by Harriet's magical chakra.

Still, the Uchiha did get suspicious after finding out that 'Hari' lived in the same world as he. There was no helping that, since his Hawk did not need to disappear back to the shinobi world to deliver the letter from Sasuke to 'Hari'.Harriet's response to that was that she wouldn't say a thing about her location and situation until she was sure he could be trusted. It was a good thing he didn't know she knew he was Sasuke (because he wasn't aware that Aoda had told Nibuya about him since Aoda was supposed to have kept his previous life's identity a secret), as he had introduced himself as 'Azrael' to her, giving her no last name.

Harriet found it amusing that his name meant 'God's helper' in Hebrew, and was the name of the Angel of Death, a shinigami of sorts. Apparently, Mrs Figg knew all about myths and legends.

* * *

All was well, until Dudley's birthday. Harriet—or Hari, as she had begun calling herself—had moved on from simple wandless magical charms to transfiguration, which was like the Transformation Technique, Henge no Jutsu, except that it could be done on another object, and was more extensive in application, though it has both its advantages and disadvantages, which made her glad that she could do both Henge and a bit of Transfiguration.

Riddle assured her that she would get better at it with a wand. (And he seemed even keener on having her join his side of the war because other than being the Girl-Who-Lived and the Chosen One, it was evident now that she had plenty of 'powers he knows not' that would be a great asset to have.)

Dudley's birthday was not altogether horrible. Hari did get to go to the zoo along with the Dursleys and Dudley's friend (a ratty looking boy called Piers), which wasn't a very pleasant experience, but at least she was going on an excursion. Things started to go downhill after she met a large snake in the reptile house though.

The snake was a boa constrictor from Brazil, and she had been conversing with it for awhile until her annoying cousin and his friend came along and shoved her out of the way. Her first instinct was to punch them both, but she suppressed it with some difficulty after Kurama advised her not to make a scene. Not that it mattered, because the next moment, both Dudley and Piers nearly fell into the snake's tank when the glass they were leaning on had vanished. The snake happily slithered out, and left after saying thanks to Hari in Parseltongue. Chaos ensued as visitors panicked and everyone was scrambling for the exits.

In the end, no one was injured, the snake had escaped successfully, and the zoo director had personally apologised to them for something that wasn't exactly his fault. Meanwhile, Dudley and Piers were spinning exaggerated tales of getting nearly bitten and strangled by the snake. All in all, it was quite a wonderful prank, Hari thought, if she had done it on purpose. But she hadn't.

Hari found herself locked in her bedroom later that day, because Piers had told her uncle that he had seen her talking to the snake. She let herself get locked up mainly because it meant getting left alone by the Dursleys. That night, she summoned a few common Snakes and sent them to terrorize Piers as revenge for him telling on her, with instructions not to actually harm him, and to leave as soon as he gave any inclination to be violent. She was a prankster after all, not a bully, much to Riddle's annoyance.

_You should at least let the Snakes bite him. They aren't even venomous,_ Riddle had said.

_Yes, and after that, you'll try and convince me that I should have him killed because he's just a stupid Muggle, am I right, Hebi-sensei? _Hari had responded, and Riddle fell silent, though she could feel him scowling in her head. Still, he was somewhat pleased with her new wandless Vanishing ability, even if it had been accidental magic.

* * *

**That's all for now. Next chapter up next week! **

****Once again, feel free to ask questions~ I might not answer them all (if they're spoilers), but I'll try my best.****

**Please R&amp;R~! And if you guys spot any factual errors or contradictions or anything wrong, please let me know! Thanks!**


	3. Letters from Someone

**My thanks to all who have reviewed/followed/favourited this story so far~! Sorry if I took awhile to post this (originally intended to post this three days ago heh ^^")**

**Here's the third chapter... Enjoy~!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

___§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)__§___

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing _**] **

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

****Extra A/N: I realise doesn't allow/have the right formatting for strikethroughs, so purposely cancelled words are now underlined:****

****[**** _cancelled words_**** ] ****

****and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:****

****[**** _person A's writing_ vs _**person B's writing**_**** ]****

* * *

Chapter 3: The Letters From _Someone_

_Post by hawk, owl or magic, perfectly normal for wizards, but unfortunately, not so normal for the Dursleys. _

_At least they haven't see the deliverers._

* * *

Despite getting locked in her room for the rest of the school term until the summer holidays (which wasn't a bad thing, since she had already learned basic math and science and the like back when Naruko was still a student at the Ninja Academy—and Kurama couldn't be bothered to point out that she had skipped most of her classes back then to play—so she hadn't actually learned much, but Riddle was around to tutor her on what she missed out anyway), Hari had quite an enjoyable time, practicing what jutsu and magic she could in the confines of her room.

Riddle was now Hebi-sensei, and he shared his knowledge of the wizarding world readily enough after the first few lessons. He seemed to enjoy teaching, and was quite good at it, even though he didn't seem like the type to get along well with children. However, he rarely shared anything about his life before becoming Lord Voldemort. So whenever he did, Hari would store the information carefully in her mind, guarding it more carefully than any other information, because his secrets seemed more valuable than many other things.

For one, she did manage to find out that he wasn't actually a pureblood, and that he had been left at an orphanage when he was a baby. It sounded awful, and Riddle seemed to despise his Muggle father, such that Hari began to wonder how many children grew up to become criminals (she was pretty sure a Dark Lord was the worst of criminals) due to a bad childhood and a thirst for revenge. Sometimes, she found Riddle reminding her of Sasuke more than she was comfortable with.

Hari also wrote letters to the actual Sasuke in between magic and ninjutsu training. They were getting to know more about each other, and had officially become penpals, with both of them coming up with pennames for the fun of it. Unsurprisingly, it had been Sasuke's idea and he wanted the pennames to be Japanese and animal-related, reminiscent of Konoha's ANBU codenames. Which made Hari wonder if he actually missed Konoha. She hoped so.

* * *

_Hari, _the letter began one day.

_I thought about it the other day... Since we're both shinobi, we should probably come up with fake names in case the letters get intercepted some day. Not that I think Takatsuki _(which was the name of Sasuke's Hawk, which Hari found rather amusing and... Ironic)_ could be intercepted easily, but it's better to be cautious. What do you think?_

_Azrael_

His letters were usually short, which was quite Sasuke-ish. But sometimes, Hari would find that she couldn't imagine Sasuke saying what he wrote, almost as if Azrael were a different person from Sasuke. But perhaps that's how it is, because Hari was a similar yet different person from Naruko. She was once Naruko (a typical Gryffindor, Riddle had said when he had a glimpse of her past life), and perhaps once Harriet (a sort of Slytherin... Or a Hufflepuff said Riddle, as if he wasn't quite sure if Harriet was Slytherin or Hufflepuff enough to be Sorted into one of the two), but now, she felt, she might be a merge between the both of them, or a mix of them, like colours layered over each other.

* * *

_Azrael, _

_What kind of fake names are you thinking of? It sounds fun. _

_Hari_

And sometimes, Hari's letters were shorter than Azrael's. And he would rebuke her for wasting Takatsuki's efforts in delivering such a short message.

* * *

_Hari, _

_You idiot. It's not meant to be fun. It's a precaution. It's a serious matter. Sometimes I question if you're really a _shinobi_. _

_The fake names would work as codenames of sorts. Preferably in Japanese and animal-based, so that it's easy to remember but hard to identify._

_Azrael_

Hari secretly enjoyed it when Sasuke would scold and insult her though, because it reminded her of the times in Team Seven when he'd call her 'dobe' and she'd respond with 'teme'.

* * *

_Azrael,_

_It would be more appropriate for you to call me a _kunoichi_. And I see nothing wrong in having a bit of fun with something serious. I swear you need to lighten up sometimes. Say, have you smiled before?_

_Anyway, I've thought of a codename for myself already. _

_Kogitsune_

No prizes guessing who she got the idea for her codename from. Hari only hoped that Sasuke wouldn't suspect too much. In English, the ambiguous 'kit' could mean any young animal. In Japanese, the term which Kurama occasionally used was quite specific to mean 'child fox'.

* * *

_Kit_

_You do not sound like any girl I've come across. It is rather easy to forget you're one, when you seem to lack any feminine charm. (Do keep it that way.)_

_And of course I have smiled before! What kind of weird question is that?_

_**Hiyoko** **Hina**_ _Ko-taka_

_P.s. Why 'Kit'? And realised I don't actually know how old are you._

Hari had to check up the dictionary for the English term for a young hawk.

* * *

_Eyas,_

_I do not know if I should be insulted or not. I am plenty feminine! Though... Don't tell me you've got fangirls? _

_And I can't imagine you smiling. Your letters always sound indifferent... Or irritated. Heh._

_I'm turning eleven... Pretty soon. And don't you dare judge me by my age! How old are you anyway? Are you an old? And by old, I mean above thirty. You sound old. __Oh no. I've been talking to a snake pedophile!_

_Sorry about that. Heh. I think I got carried away. Uh... I chose 'kit' because that's what my guardian calls me. Apparently I'm too annoying and mischievous. _

_Kit_

_P.s. Why 'Eyas'? And what's with the different handwriting and cancellations?_

Afterwards, Kurama choked when he proofread the letter. _**Guardian?! **_

Hari happily chose to ignore him.

* * *

_Kit,_

_Maybe you're feminine. I can't tell. And yes, unfortunately, I have fangirls. I don't understand it. And contrary to what they believe, I am not 'cool, dark, angsty and mysterious'. I am normal... As normal as anyone going to Durmstrang can be. (Have you heard of the school? I'm probably not supposed to tell you about it if you haven't, but since you're a _kunoichi_, it should be alright...)_

_I'm eleven as well, by the way. I do know of a snake pedophile though. You've probably heard of a missing-nin called Orochimaru? _

_Wait. You're only eleven. How did you come to have _Nibuya-hime_ as your personal summon?_

_If you have the personality of a fox, I pity your guardian. __Have __Are your __Why __ How did you come to have a guardian? My guardian is my annoying older __ brother __ cousin. He's also the one who tried to get me to sign off as 'Hatchling' etc. Eyas was a compromise after he threatened not to train with me for the rest of the year. _

_Eyas_

Thus, little secrets are slowly revealed.

* * *

_Eyas,_

_I'm aware of the magical world, so you don't have to worry about that Statute of Secrecy thing. But I heard that Durmstrang does not... discourage... the studying of Dark Arts. _(Riddle had informed her after all.)_ You sure you're not 'dark'? I believe a wizard could be considered 'cool and mysterious' as well. _

_Yeah I've heard of Orochimaru. I don't like him at all. I'm glad he's no longer... He's dead right?_

_I've got two official guardians and one non-official one, actually. My parents died when I was a baby, so now I'm living with my relatives. Is it the same for you? Your cousin sounds fun. _

_Kit_

_**His cousin sounds familiar, actually,**_ Kurama had commented then, but would not elaborate, while Riddle said something about giving too many clues. Hari wasn't sure who he was referring too.

* * *

_Kit,_

_You're a witch too? Half-blood or pureblood? Both my cousin and I are pureblood. Which magical school will you be going to?_

_Orochimaru isn't pleasant, I assure you. I doubt anyone really likes him. I think he's dead. I hope he's dead. Unless he reincarnated or came back to life again. He does seem to have a habit of doing that. _

_My... Parents died when I was young too. But my cousin more than make up for them. He only became my guardian last month actually. He turned seventeen in June. His name's Mercury, but I think I shall assign his codename as _Karasu_. He's not fun. He's __ the best cousin I could ever have __ annoying._

_Eyas_

_P.s. You didn't answer my question about _Nibuya-hime_._

Hari noticed Sasuke had given up on the fangirl topic and let it be. The Uchiha had his fair share of fangirls back when he was an eleven-year-old Academy student (and he'd definitely been angsty and mysterious then). Sakura had been one of those fangirls. Naruko hadn't been one mainly because she had been too annoyed with him being an almost-prodigy while she had been dead last. Hari did tell Sasuke that she didn't know what magical school she'd be going but was likely to receive a letter from Hogwarts soon. She chose not to comment on his observation of Orochimaru, considering how she wasn't supposed to know about his experience with the Snake Sannin. She also managed to avoid answering his question about Nibuya by asking him about his ability to have two summons. That had shut him up quickly, probably because he realised that there were very very few shinobi who could summon both the Snakes and the Hawks, and that pressing the matter would only reveal who he was.

_What are the chances that this Mercury-slash-Crow cousin of Sasuke's is actually Itachi? _Hari said, rereading her next letter.

_**What are the chances that the Uchiha hatchling knows that his cousin was once his brother? **_Kurama responded. And when Riddle had caught up with their discussion (after Hari had formed a book in her mind made up of selected memories of her time as a kunoichi and gave it to Riddle to study), he added, _And what are the chances that the entire criminal organisation—Akatsuki, I think you called it? Well what are the chances that all their members have been reincarnated? Including this... Madara person. _

It would be really bad, Hari mused, if the Akatsuki were all reincarnated, and worse if they had magic. Though she doubted that Riddle cared about the fate of the world. He was most likely worried about his position as Dark Lord being usurped. And Hari decided that she'd prefer Riddle lording over the Muggles and Muggleborns than Madara or Kaguya trapping the entire world in an illusion, which would basically be the end of the world. So she desperately hoped that Fate would be kind and not have Madara reincarnated, so that at least she would have only one Dark Lord to deal with.

_We don't know for sure if Sasuke's cousin is Itachi anyway, _Hari said, and changed the topic to the Hogwarts letter. There had been no news of it, though Riddle said it should arrive in July.

* * *

They waited. They, meaning Hari, Riddle, Kurama, 'Kichi, 'Tatsu and Nibuya. All of them were looking forward to the letter than confirmed her magical status. And one week before her birthday, it came.

It arrived with the rest of the morning post, the day after Dudley had gotten his Smeltings uniform and Stick (Hari thought the uniform looked hideous despite having her favorite color on it). Hari had gone down for breakfast to find that Aunt Petunia was dyeing Dudley's old clothes grey. It was supposed to be her Stonewall uniform, and she briefly considered telling her aunt not to bother since she wasn't going to the local public school, but decided against it. She was quite thankful that the Hogwarts school robes looked decent (Riddle had most reluctantly shown her some of his memories) enough, though she thought they seemed rather... Plain. All black with no bright colors. It was disappointing to find that there was no House with orange House colors. But she supposed gold may be alright, regardless of whatever Riddle had against Gryffindor.

During breakfast, the mail arrived and Hari was made to get it. And when she leafed through the mail, she found the Hogwarts letter.

The envelope was somewhat thick, made of yellowish parchment that smelled of old scrolls, with the address written in green ink the same color as Hari's eyes. It must have been delivered by an owl for there was no stamp. Hari stared hard at it.

Ms. H. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

She flipped it over. There was a purple-wax seal with the Hogwarts coat of arms—a lion, eagle, badger and snake surrounding the letter H. She could barely breathe in excitement. It was here. At last.

_What now? _Hari asked her two resident demons (even if Riddle was actually a part of a human soul, she though he'd fit well into the demon category).

_Now, you hide that letter and return to breakfast acting as if nothing unusual just—_ Riddle was saying, when Kurama interrupted.

_**I thought it might be interesting to let her relatives know about the letter. I'd like to see their reaction.**_

_They'll take away the letter and Potter wouldn't ever see it again, _Riddle argued.

_What happens if Hogwarts doesn't get a reply?_

_They may... I'm not sure. I got my letter delivered to me by Dumbledore._

Dumbledore, Riddle had explained to her one day, was the Headmaster of Hogwarts last he remembered. Though when he received his letter, Dumbledore had been a Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Headmaster. Hari noted that Riddle despised what seemed to her to be a kindly middle-aged man with auburn hair and a fascinatingly long beard and twinkling blue eyes. She once told him so, and an image had flashed across her mind before Riddle hurriedly snatched it away. It had been a memory of a burning closet. She could make no head or tail of it, so she filed it away for the time being. Riddle had found her thought process rather amusing though.

(Hari had once seen Dudley play with a figurine that looked like an older Dumbledore—Riddle said the aging wizard's hair was white the last time he saw him—and a figurine that looked like some horned flaming monster, which she was sure was from some movie, and thought that Dumbledore the Colorful could be a fire wizard.)

In the end, Hari kept the letter and left it in one of the old drawers the Dursleys had given her, where all her works (calculations, drawings, seal drafts etc) were kept. She didn't read the letter let alone write a reply. She figured she could read it some other day. Riddle had mentioned that term starts in September, which was a long way from now, and she should be fine as long as she replied by August. The next day, another Hogwarts letter arrived.

* * *

_They're a rather impatient lot, aren't they? _Hari commented on the third day when three letters arrived instead of just one, and Kurama snorted and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "_You're one to talk._" She ignored the demon fox and kept all of the letters, wondering how far this would go.

_You might want to read the letter, _Riddle said. And she did. One portion of the letter stated "We await your owl by no later than July 31."

"That's my birthday," Hari observed aloud. "Five days from now... Well, I can just reply them on Monday then."

Twelve letters arrived on the fourth day, and Hari had a difficult time retrieving and hiding all of them.

On the fifth day, twenty-four letters were delivered, each folded and rolled up neatly in two dozen eggs (_Eggs_ of all things, Riddle had commented) that the poor confused milkman handed to Hari. It had been fortunate that the milkman knew Hari, mostly because Hari was often out in the garden when he passes by and they'd greet each other good morning. She should have known her luck wouldn't last.

There was no post on Sunday, which was also the sixth day (the first letter had arrived on a Tuesday), but when the Dursleys and Hari had begun breakfast when letters started to shoot down the kitchen chimney and out of the fireplace. For a moment, the Dursleys could only stare at the letters pouring out of the fireplace, dumbfounded. Then, like statues suddenly coming to life, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon started yelling and chasing everyone out of the room even as more letters flooded the kitchen.

_**You can't deny that was hilarious, **_Kurama laughed as the Dursleys tried to figure out what was going on. It didn't take long for them to place the blame on Hari, especially after Dudley showed them one of the letters he had managed to grab.

_They are rather persistent, _Hari observed, trying her best not to laugh, wondering who in Hogwarts was in charge of the letters, and tuning out the shouting Dursleys. Riddle had told her there was an enchanted quill that wrote the address of each letter, but didn't say who writes and sends out the letters.

_I'll admit that was... Somewhat entertaining, _Riddle said. But the entertainment didn't seem about to end just yet.

On the seventh day, the Dursleys had breakfast in the living room, and letters began streaming in from windows, fireplace, under the doors... After that, Hari was locked in her room for the rest of the day while her relatives set about burning the letters in a bonfire in the backyard. That evening, Uncle Vernon told her that she would be moving to Mrs Figg's house for the rest of the summer break if more letters came at breakfast the next day.

Hari spent the rest of the day practicing locking and unlocking charms, silencing charms and warding spells, while experimenting with seals and magic. A letter from 'Eyas' came in the late afternoon, and she read it with much amusement. It was full of complaints about 'Crow', his older cousin. Apparently Mercury had spent the past three days lecturing Azrael on how to behave in Durmstrang before dragging him off to 'purchase his school supplies' (because Sasuke felt that 'shopping' wasn't the appropriate word to use here). In any case, from what she could find in his letters, Mercury sounded like a very caring brother.

Hari said so in her reply letter, before launching into the tale of the Persistent Hogwarts Letters. She had to quickly shove everything 'abnormal' into her closet when Aunt Petunia brought her dinner, including Takatsuki and Gamakichi. This didn't happen very often, but it did occur often enough for Takatsuki and 'Kichi to let themselves be manhandled without causing trouble. However, the Hawk wouldn't stop glaring at Hari after she let them out later.

That night, Hari lay awake on her bed, counting down to midnight. She had already written her reply for the Hogwarts letter but had yet to send it. She could see no owls around, not that she had expected to see any in the stormy weather outside, and figured she'd wait for the morning post. Takatsuki had left earlier to deliver her letter to Sasuke. The Hawk had taken one look at the rain, shot a glare at Hari and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The storm blew itself away as midnight approached, though there was a loud rhythmic thumping that reverbrated through the house as the seconds ticked by. The thumping seemed to get louder and louder, until Hari got quite worried. By then, she had two Toads and one Snake in the bedroom with her. It had been the tradition for four years now, for the three of them to join her in a small midnight celebration of her birthday. Usually, one of them would bring a small cake (most likely 'Kichi, because Snakes didn't seem to know how to bake cake, and 'Tatsu would have eaten the cake before Hari could even look at it) that was plain and generally tasted like sweet bread because they knew Hari wouldn't want anything else in the cake, on the cake or flavoring the cake. It was baked by Toads after all, and they had a different food preference.

Ten. _Thump._

Nine. _Thump. Thump._

Eight. _Thump._

Seven. _Thump. Thump!_

Six. _Thump._

Five._ Thump. Thump. Thump!_

Four. _Thump. Thump!_

Three. _Thump. Thump! Thump!_

Two. _Thump! Thump!_

One—_CRASH!_

_**Happy birthday, brat, **_Kurama said, at the same time as the summons who all yelled, _"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"_

Hari scrambled out of bed, distracted from her birthday for the moment. The crash had sounded suspiciously like someone breaking down their front door. Meanwhile, she could hear Uncle Vernon storming through the house with a shrieking Aunt Petunia.

"What do you think that was?" Hari wondered aloud. All three of her personal summons stared blankly back at her. She repeated her question in Japanese sheepishly. The Toads shrugged. But before Nibuya could suggest anything, a loud unfamiliar yell (and she was pretty familiar with the different sorts of screams, shrieks, yells and shouts of her relatives) reached her bedroom. Though perhaps it was less of a yell than the raised voice of thundercloud.

"HARRIET! YOU THERE?"

* * *

**So it's a relatively short chapter, mostly featuring letters, as the title stated. Next one will be a little longer and will hopefully be up by Monday~**

**Please comment and review~ and feel free to ask any questions. I can't promise to answer them all, but I'll try my best.**

**Oh, and do let me know if I've made any error or mistake in writing or facts~! Thanks!**


	4. Keeper of Keys and Secrets

**Once again, many thanks to all who have reviewed/followed/favourited this story so far~! Especially ****gemava and agrond!**

**Here's the fourth chapter... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Harry Potter.**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing _

_cancelled words_**]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs _**person B's writing**_** ]**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Keeper of Keys and Secrets

_He can be trusted with anything, absolutely loyal and kind-hearted as he is; he can't help it if he's just naturally careless._

* * *

"I'm here!" Harriet yelled, as she unlocked her room door with a wave of her hand and dashed down the stairs. She stopped short in the hall, gaping at the large man standing outside an unhinged door, easily dwarfing the Dursleys. He was gigantic, with black shaggy hair and had a great tangle of beard. He was wearing a huge black overcoat, and was holding a battered pink umbrella in one hand. His eyes seem to light up when he saw Hari.

"Ah! There yeh are! Happy birthday, Harriet," the giant (Hagrid, Riddle supplied) exclaimed as he took out a box from one of the pockets of his overcoat. The box looked slightly squashed, as if it might have been sat on before. Hari approached the giant slowly, ignoring her stunned relatives, and took the box from him warily. Hagrid beamed at her encouragingly.

Hari opened the box to find a large sticky chocolate cake inside it, with "Happy Birthday Harriet" written on it in green icing. It was a cake for her. For her birthday. Hari was suddenly reminded of Iruka treating her to ramen.

"Th-Thank you," Hari said softly. She looked up at the giant who now looked extremely pleased. He looked familiar...

"Yer welcome," said Hagrid happily. "Las' time I saw yeh, you were only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad. But yeh've got yer mum's eyes an' smile."

And then it clicked. Hagrid must have been that gigantic person she remembered from long ago, the one with the flying motorcycle. (Which made a lot more sense now that she knew about magic.)

Meanwhile, Uncle Vernon made a funny sound that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a choke.

"Maybe this isn't the best t—" Hari began, eyeing her uncle, just as he regained his voice and said, "I demand you leave at once, sir! You're breaking and entering!"

Once, a purple-red-faced uncle might have seemed intimidating to Hari, but with her kunoichi past life and his shaking voice, he seemed more like a cornered animal than a fierce man.

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," Hagrid said, much to Hari's amusement. Uncle Vernon's face did have splotches of light prune-color now. Then she sighed, knowing she'd get shipped off to Mrs Figg's house for the rest of the holidays after this incident.

"Who are you?" she asked Hagrid. She didn't know anything else other than his name and that he came from Hogwarts, and knew better than to trust what Riddle had to say about the giant, considering the waves of disgust and dislike she received from him in her mind.

"Oh, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts," Hagrid replied. Hari took his huge hand when he held it out and he shook her whole arm.

"Er... Nice to meet you, but I still don't really know who you are," said Hari, trying to shut out Riddle's unpleasant comments about the giant.

The giant chuckled. "Call me Hagrid. Everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts—yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."

"That would be the magical school that kept sending me those acceptance letters these past few days?" Hari said. "For witches and wizards?"

Uncle Vernon made an odd strangled sound which was easily ignored, while Aunt Petunia gasped. Hagrid was oblivious to their reactions and was nodding away happily.

"That's the one!" he said, then frowned, looking slightly confused. "If yeh've got the letter, why haven't yeh replied? Dumbledore thought yeh might've had some trouble with yer relatives."

Hari hesitated. She couldn't very well say that she hadn't replied because she was curious to find out what might happen if she didn't reply... In the end, she settled for, "The letter said to reply by today, so I didn't see the need to reply earlier. In fact, I've already prepared a reply letter but I've got no owls. Do you want it? It's in my bedroom."

The giant blinked at her. "Oh. Well, if tha's the case, then there's no need. Just a moment." And he reached into another pocket in his overcoat and took out a quill, a roll of parchment and an owl. The owl was very much a live one that looked rather ruffled. Unsurprisingly. Hari wondered if that was normal for witches and wizards to stuff owls into pockets. It didn't seem like a nice thing to do.

After scribbling some note on the parchment, Hagrid rolled up the parchment and gave it to the owl who took it in its beak and flew off. The four of them (Hari, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Hagrid) watched the owl until it was a tiny speck in the sky, before Uncle Vernon once more made a strange sound, but couldn't seem to get the words out of his mouth. Hari stared at him, amused now.

_I think,_ said Riddle slowly. _His tongue may be stuck to the roof of his mouth._

_Why? _Hari asked, bewildered. Just then, Uncle Vernon regained his speech.

"How did you know about that bloody m-magic school?! Since when did you a hold on one of those freak letters?! I won't have it! We swore we'd stamp it out of you! You're not going—"

Hagrid looked bemused and cut in, "Look here—"

"You know, I don't think you can stamp out magic," Hari suddenly interrupted with a bright smile. "And I can't imagine what a witch or wizard might do if you tried. What's that phrase? Never..." _Something about disturbing a dragon?_

_... Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. Never tickle a sleeping dragon, _supplied Riddle dryly. Hari nodded absently to herself. _Right. Thanks._

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon," she said to Uncle Vernon, who suddenly looked slightly alarmed. He clearly recognised the smile on her face and the sparkling green eyes that promised pranks, mischief, trouble and chaos. The memory of her threatening to plunge the neighbourhood into freakiness was forever imprinted in his mind. Hari had released Snakes and Toads everywhere until they gave her Dudley's second bedroom, multiplying with the use of shadow clones transformed into frogs. Most of the time, the Dursleys would forget just what she was capable of, mainly because she usually let them push her around. But there would be times when she would let them know that they had crossed a line somewhere, and remind them of her abilities, like now.

"That's true. Really true. Hogwarts motto, that is," Hagrid commented. "Crikey, I've always wanted a dragon."

Hari stared at him. She could certainly imagine him keeping a dragon, and wondered what dragons looked like in the wizarding world. The only sort of 'dragons' she'd seen before were elemental jutsu with dragon shapes. Long, serpent like dragons that resembled the dragons in oriental myths.

"So... What now?" Hari asked, now that her relatives had fallen silent again.

"Well, I'm ter bring yeh ter Diagon Alley ter get yer school supplies today... But it's still dark and..." Hagrid looked around for a clock.

"... It's around half past twelve in the morning," Hari finished for him. "Do you think we could find somewhere to sleep first? I don't think you could... uh fit... In the house... And even if you could, I don't think my relatives are feeling hospitable tonight."

And she wanted to leave the house as soon as possible. She wanted a glimpse of the magical world as soon as possible. She'd only seen an echo of it in Riddle's memories, and sometimes he'd be willing enough to change the scenery of her mindscape to a place in Magical Britain that he remembered, and she'd explore a ghost village called Hogsmead, or ghost streets called Diagon Alley or even Knockturn Alley, and the ghost castle of Hogwarts. But Hari wanted to see the real thing. Something magical and solid outside the walls of her mind.

"Well," Hagrid hesitated. "I suppose we could spen' the night at Leaky Cauldron. It's a wizarding pub and inn."

And so, Hari packed her bag (some books, some scrolls, some stacks of paper bound together, stationary, clothes and weapons, mostly salvaged either from Dudley's old stuff or given to her by her summons) and walked out into the night-which-was-morning with Hagrid, leaving behind the flustered and furious Dursleys. She left with a wave, saying she'll be back next summer, and skipped off blithely.

* * *

"So... How did you get here?" Hari asked Hagrid as they walked down the Little Whinging, the neighbourhood still asleep under the blanket of darkness.

"Hmm? I flew," Hagrid said. Hari stared at him. Flew? She couldn't imagine the giant flying, though an image of him rising up into the sky with the pink umbrella open like the lady in that movie that her aunt once watched—what was it called? Mary Poppies or Marry Poppy or something—came unbidden into her mind. This was followed by her hazy memory of the giant from long ago, which seemed a lot less ridiculous than a giant with a flying umbrella.

"Was the motorcycle yours?" Hari asked, curious. His image did fit a motorcycle, but somehow, he seemed more like the type to ride... Dragons. But she supposed he couldn't fly a dragon into Little Whinging without having to wipe the memories of everyone in the neighbourhood.

"What motorcycle?" asked Hagrid, bemused. Hari stared at him.

"The flying motorcycle," she said slowly, as a teacher might speak to a preschooler. "You do have one, don't you?"

Hagrid's black-beetle eyes widen. "How d'yeh know about that?"

Hari grinned, now that her memory was proven correct, and said, "You've ridden it before. Long ago. Don't remember when or where though. Oh it was at night. Yeah. The sky was dark. Did you fly here by motorcycle just now?"

"Yeah, flew by motorcycle earlier. It's not mine though. It... It belongs to... Never mind that," said Hagrid as he stared at her oddly. "What d'yeh remember before me an' the motorcycle?"

"My mother screaming? Red eyes... Cold evil laughter... Green flash of light?" Hari shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable now, aware that she knew more than that though she wasn't supposed to.

Hagrid made an choking sound, a horrified gasp. He looked distinctively unnerved, and began glancing around. Then he turned back and gazed down at Hari. In a voice approaching a whisper, he asked, "What... else d'yeh... Remember before that?"

"Well, I remember uh... My mother had red hair? And my father had uh... Black hair and spectacles. Oh and he bought me a toy broomstick. And I had three honorary uncles... I think one of them was my godfather? And they had a dog and a rat... I think they had a wolf too, but I'm not sure about that one."

Hagrid seemed rather interested by what Hari remembered, though he gave her a skeptical look when she suggested that they had pets. He sighed heavily afterwards, and began to tell Hari about how her parents died. She listened attentively, even though she already knew what happened. And she soon found that she knew more about it than Hagrid.

For one, she knew that Riddle's aim was to kill her, and her parents had died only because they tried to protect her (and Riddle had a habit of using the Killing Curse). She knew that Riddle had asked her mother to stand aside because of some request by one of his followers to spare her (an image flashed through her mind when he had told her this, an image of a sallow-faced black-haired man dressed in black), and had even wanted to recruit her at one point in time (despite her being Muggleborn), but she sacrificed herself anyway. She also knew for sure that Riddle (all eight of him) was still alive, because of the Horcruxes he made.

The only thing she hadn't known was what happened after she passed out, so she asked and Hagrid told her—Hagrid finding her, bringing her to Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, and—here, a strange cold feeling came from Riddle, like anger, but more detached, and she couldn't figure out the emotion nor its cause. Kurama wasn't very pleased either, though apparently he had a vague idea of it before Hagrid told her. It was him who had kept her warm with demon chakra after all, kept her from freezing to death.

"I was left on the Dursleys' doorstep on a November night, when I was one years old," Hari repeated, stunned. There was no bitterness, or accusation in her voice—she had seen worse, experienced worse—but Hagrid winced anyway.

"Well, I suppose, with magic and all, that may be less terrible an idea than leaving a Muggle baby out in the cold..." Hari said, more to herself than anyone else. "And I guess if I can defeat the Dark Lord at the age of one, a little cold shouldn't bother me... I wonder what the Dursleys must have felt, finding a baby on their doorstep early in the morning... Aunt Petunia must have woken the whole street up with her shriek..."

She chuckled then, and glanced up at Hagrid, and found him fidgeting uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry... Didn't realise back then... How bad an idea that was," he muttered, looking at the ground as they sat on the park bench waiting for the Knight Bus. (Hagrid had planned on going to London the Muggle way, but Hari had taken one look at him and refused.) He sounded so guilty and full of regret that Hari found herself trying to comfort the giant, who had begun sobbing uncontrollably (the tears had started early into the story, and only got worse as the story progressed), not knowing how to do so. It wasn't that big a deal. What was done was done, and it wasn't like he was the one solely responsible for it.

(Hari's resident demon and spirit both disagreed with her, both intent on letting him suffer for something that wasn't really his fault, though she suspected that Riddle was displeased with the giant due to some earlier biasness against him rather than actual concern for her health and safety. Or perhaps he was upset by the idea that the one who defeated him could have died a few hours later because of the cold of all things.)

"Hagrid!" Hari exclaimed when she couldn't stand it anymore. She hated having to comfort people—she was horrible at this sort of sensitive stuff. "Stop it. I'm not blaming you. I don't even think it's your fault. If you feel the need to apologise, well, then, apology accepted."

Hagrid looked at her with watery eyes, his beard wet with tears. She shoved Riddle's disgust at the back of her mind, just as Hagrid burst into more tears, saying, "Yer too kind... Too kind—jus' like yer mother."

Hari sighed, and settled for awkwardly petting his back (she couldn't reach his shoulder, considering their height difference even with him seated), while she waited for him to calm down.

Some time later, the Knight Bus appeared. It was a purple triple-decker bus that sped down the road and came to a stop before them so abruptly that Hari wondered if the vehicle was safe to board.

_It's a magical bus. The driving is dangerous, but it is generally safe,_ Riddle said. Hari nodded to herself, and followed Hagrid, who had finally stopped crying, up the bus. The bus conductor greeted them merrily before they took their seats... Or rather, their beds.

Half an hour later, Hari stumbled out of the Knight Bus without a scratch or bruise, thanks to her kunoichi skills. She did feel a little dizzy, however, and irritable. The bus had swung round corners without a care, sped through traffic like it was on a crash course, and stopped so suddenly at every traffic light, sending its occupants tumbling about with every loud 'bang'. Hari thought the trip was comparable to her first ride on Gamabunta, when he had been trying to shake her off the whole afternoon.

_I thought you said it was safe!_ Hari grumbled to Riddle, who raised a mental eyebrow.

_I said it was generally safe. I didn't say it would be comfortable or pleasant,_ he said. Hari scowled.

And continued scowling until they entered the dark and shabby pub. As soon as Hagrid announced to the landlord (his name was Tom, and Riddle didn't like him at all) who she was, the few people in the pub immediately gathered around her, greeting her and shaking her hand.

It was all very strange. Hari didn't mind the fame (Naruko loved attention after all), but she would have preferred it if people liked her for what she actually did—which at the moment, was nothing. From what she could tell, the defeat of the Dark Lord seemed more like an accident to her than anything else.

* * *

The next morning, Hari had breakfast with Hagrid in the Leaky Cauldron, after making sure that her lightning-bolt scar wasn't visible, and telling Hagrid not to announce her name to everyone again. The pub was more crowded in the morning, and Hari wanted to have her breakfast in peace. Meanwhile, Hagrid was reading the newspapers ('Daily Prophet' it was called) while they had bacon and eggs.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," he muttered as he flipped the page.

_Why am I not surprised?_ drawled Riddle. Hari observed that he didn't have a high opinion of many things (and people).

_Do you like anything? Besides power, and ruling over the world? And torturing or killing people?_ Hari asked. There was a long stretch of silence.

_Knowledge is good,_ Riddle finally said.

_Because knowledge is power? I meant, do you like anyone? Or anything... Normal?_ Hari said, exasperated. Riddle thought about it.

_I respect Salazar Slytherin... And I like snakes... _

_And the color green and silver. And maybe black? Do you like any food? Drinks?_ Hari cut in.

_Well, yes. Actually, the color red is... acceptable, if its a dark red..._

**_Like blood?_**Kurama laughed. Riddle ignored him.

_And I haven't eaten or drunk anything for ten years, _he continued tonelessly. Hari blinked.

_Ano... Am I supposed to apologise?_ Hari asked, wondering if it was even appropriate to feel sorry for a Dark Lord.

_Apologise? For what?_

Apparently not. She changed the subject. _Never mind. Say, how do I get the money for my school supplies?_

_The Potters are an old pureblood family. They should have left you a fortune, though you'd probably only have access to some of it until you come of age. And even if you have nothing, the school has funds for students who need... monetary assistance. Such as Mudbloods._

Hari stopped bothering Riddle after that. He seemed to get more and more sullen as she raised the wrong topics unintentionally. She had a feeling that Riddle had been one of those students who had once had to depend on the school's charity and he definitely wasn't pleased with it.

As she finished her breakfast, Hari looked around the pub, watching different witches and wizards enter, dine at and leave the place. She noticed that there was a wizard she recognised—an easily excitable person whom she had once met in a shop. Then she surveyed her surroundings once more, because there seemed to be a sense of something not quite right in the vicinity.

Just then, a pale wizard wearing a purple turban approached them. Hagrid looked up from his papers and greeted him.

"Ah, good morning, Professor," Hagrid said. "Harriet, this is Professor Quirrell. He'll be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

Hari eyed the teacher warily as he stuttered and stammered through his greeting. He seemed so nervous and... twitchy, she wasn't sure about his teaching abilities. But then, she's had her share of dubious teachers... Especially perverted ones.

"What kind of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?" she asked politely, and held back a sigh when he stumbled over his response.

_Do you know this guy? Can he teach? _Hari asked Riddle.

Riddle gave her the mental equivalent of a frown. _Quirrell... I do not know. There's something... familiar... about him that I can't place._

**_I think this idiot is the source of the sense you got earlier, kit,_**Kurama commented. **_His chakra signature is strange. It reminds me a bit of Tomari._**

_Tomari? Who is that?! _It was really clear that he knew who it was though.

**_Tom Marvolo Riddle. I thought that was rather obvious. _**A perfect snooty tone that Hari was sure would sound normal for a pureblood.

_Why must you insist on butchering my name? You—_

Hari tuned out the rest of their argument. Two proud, arrogant and violent beings put together in the same 'container'... It was no wonder that Hari often got headaches.

"Is he always this nervous?" Hari asked, as they walked out of the Leaky Cauldron, having finished their breakfast. She was having more than second thoughts about her new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Because if Riddle found Quirrel familiar, and his (magical) chakra signature reminded Kurama of Riddle... She couldn't see how it could be a good thing.

"Oh yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine when he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met some vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag—never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject... Now where's me umbrella?"

Hari stared as the giant started counting the bricks on the wall before them with his umbrella. If the teacher was now scared of students and the subject, how was he to teach them anything?!

_First time encountering the Dark Arts and he meets vampires and a hag? How fortunate, _muttered Riddle. She could tell he was amused, though she wasn't sure if his statement was sarcastic or not.

Then Hagrid tapped a certain brick in the wall three times. The brick squirmed like jelly, before a hole in the funny brick appeared and the hole quickly expanded into a huge archway leading to a winding cobbled street.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Hagrid said as they stepped through the archway.

* * *

**Next chapter up next week~! (By the way, do you guys prefer longer chapters and longer waiting time or shorter chapters but faster updates?)**

**Please review~ and of course, feel free to ask any questions. I can't promise to answer them all, but I'll try my best (in not spoiler-ing).**

**Oh, and do let me know if I've made any error or mistake in writing or facts~! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Diagonally

**Thanks to those who reviewed/faved/followed this story~****! **

****Here's another chapter! ******Finally, we get our first glimpse of Draco Malfoy.**

**Hope you enjoy it~!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Potterverse nor the Naruto characters.**

**(I just realised that both Harry Potter and Naruto are named after their main characters! O_O)**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing _

_cancelled words_**]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs _**person B's writing**_** ]**

* * *

Chapter Five: Diagon Alley

_Because anything straight is too normal for Wizarding folk with such creative naming sense._

* * *

Diagon Alley, Hari discovered, was amazing. The street was filled with people, sounds and colour, the air saturated with magic. There were all sorts of shops selling all sorts of things, ranging from robes to broomsticks, from books to owls, and funny ingrediants that creeped out and fascinated Hari at the same time.

Just as Hari was staring at the wide range of cauldrons sold at one particular store, Hagrid waved her along, saying, "Yeah, yeh'll be needin' one, but we gotta get yer money first."

As they walked to the bank called Gringotts, Hari saw more shops selling pets, quills, parchment, glass bottles and flasks, telescopes and funny instruments that she had no idea what the function was... She felt she could spend a whole day and more shopping here. And that was saying something, considering how she was always disinclined to follow Sakura and Ino whenever they went shopping. She was usually quite happy with what she had: ramen, blazers, jumpers and pants (all orange), frog or toad designed night clothes and purse.

"Gringotts," announced Hagrid as they approached a tall white building with bronze doors. There was a small creature wearing a red and gold uniform, standing in front of the gleaming doors. It was shorter than Hari by a head, and had a clever face and pointed beard.

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid in a low voice, confirming her suspicions on the creature that Riddle had told her about. The goblin bowed as they walked inside.

Beyond the bronze doors, was a pair of silver doors. Hari read the words engraved on them, and they seem to echo in her head as she did so.

_Enter stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn._

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

"Yeh'd be mad ter try and rob it," commented Hagrid. "Never mess with goblins, Harriet. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yer want ter keep safe—'cept maybe Hogwarts. Spells, enchantments... I heard there's dragons guardin' the high-security vaults..."

He trailed off, once again, thinking of dragons. Hari didn't press him for more details of why it would be a bad idea to rob Gringotts. Riddle had told her about it before, and now the words on the silver doors had made themselves comfortable in some corner of her mind, like a cat ready to spring out at any sign of a rat. Words shouldn't be able to sound so... Eerie, she thought to herself. Especially when they're by themselves without a voice to give them life.

Kurama snorted in her head, and she had a feeling that Riddle would have done the same if snorting wasn't so undignified to him. Though he did make a sound that seemed like a scoff.

They went through the silver doors as a pair of goblins bowed to them, and Hari bobbed in a little bow in response, an automatic reaction that came about due to Aunt Petunia making sure she didn't embarass the Dursleys when meeting other people. She wondered if it was the wrong thing to do when the goblins looked startled. Did she offend them in some unknown goblin culture?

_I don't think so,_ said Riddle, amused. But he didn't elaborate.

Hari found herself in a large marble hall with many other goblins going about their business. They sat in high stools behind a long counter, some writing in large books, some weighing coins with brass scales, others scrutinising jewels with eyeglasses and yet more goblins escorting people in and out of the many doors that led away from the hall.

"Morning," Hagrid said to a free goblin at the counter. "We've come ter take some money outta Miss Harriet Potter's safe."

"You have her key, Sir?" said the goblin, as Riddle made his displeasure about Hagrid having Hari's key known in the form of a headache.

Next time, we're either stealing the key from him—it's yours anyway—or we're using some other form of verification. The goblins should accept the usual wand check or a blood test, said Riddle. And we should find out how much control that meddling old man has over your inheritance, if he's got your key. And went on grumbling about how Dumbledore could be so foolish as to trust Hagrid with the key.

"Got it here somewhere," Hagrid said, as he began fishing all sorts of things out from his large pockets (proving Riddle's point about Hagrid's ability to keep things) and placing them onto the counter, including some dog biscuits that looked moldy. The goblin didn't look very pleased, and turned away from the giant to look down at Hari. Hari curtseyed to the sneering goblin at Riddle's instruction, earning a surprised jerk from the goblin. Kurama laughed though a confused Hari didn't know what was so funny.

"Found it," Hagrid finally said, holding up a small golden key that looked miniscule in his large hands. Hari was relieved that no matter how many things he kept, or how disorganised he was, he still kept her key safe. (Here, she did mentally stuck out her tongue at Riddle childishly.)

The goblin examined the key and said, "That seems to be in order."

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said, looking very proud of his job. "It's about the You-Know-What in Vault Seven Hundred and Thirteen."

The goblin took the letter from Hagrid and read it carefully, while Hari's and Riddle's curiosity was aroused by the idea of a secret item in some vault that Dumbledore wants. It had to be a valuable item. A rare antique book perhaps? Or some old magical artefact? Hari couldn't imagine a wise old wizard (which was how she viewed Dumbledore in her mind, determined not to be influenced by Riddle's opinions until she saw they Headmaster with her own eyes) wanting a piece of jewelry...

"Very well," the goblin said, handing back the letter to Hagrid. "I'll have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

The goblin named Griphook led them through one of the many doors in the hall after Hagrid had kept all his dog biscuits.

"Hagrid, what's the You-Know-What in Vault Seven Hundred and Thirteen?" Hari asked as they went.

"Can't tell yeh that," Hagrid said mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogswarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."

Hari was tempted to ask press him further, but Riddle told her to wait. She knew Riddle wanted to know too, so she followed his advice. After all, she figured he must know how to get the information he wanted, being a Slytherin. And they now knew that whatever it was, it was more important that they originally thought. Because the larger the vault number, the deeper it was, the higher security it had. And if Dumbledore wanted it for secret Hogswarts business, it made it even more important. Hagrid did say that Hogwarts was one of the safest place to keep treasure besides Gringotts.

Soon, they were climbing into a small cart that could hardly fit Hagrid. Around them were stone walls lit with fiery torches. The cart itself was set on a long railway track that ran through the stone passageway into the darkness.

Once everyone was in the cart, they set off, flying through winding passageways, and Hari tried to remember the way, but failed miserably. The place was a labyrinth, though the cart seemed to know its way. Magic it seems, can do almost anything, thought Hari. Almost anything.

Hari loved the ride, especially when the cart hurtles downwards in a steep drop. It was thrilling, and she enjoyed the feel of the cold air whistling past her. Once, she thought she might have seen dragon fire, but they were travelling too fast for her to be sure. However, it was quite clear that Hagrid wasn't having as much fun as she was. She really hoped the poor giant wouldn't be sick here.

(Riddle didn't seem to be enjoying the cart ride either, but he wouldn't admit to being in the same boat as Hagrid. He did seem less sick than scared though, and of course, to Riddle, that was worse than feeling nauseous. Hari wondered if he was scared of heights or something. He vehemently denied it, saying that he simply didn't trust a rattling cart with his life. Hari found it amusing that he was this was when he didn't even have a body.)

When the cart finally stopped, after passing through several more passageways and an underground lake that reminded Hari of a section of her mindscape, they were beside a small door in the stone wall. Hagrid stumbled out, looking very green, and leaned against the wall. Meanwhile, Griphook unlocked the door, and a cloud of green smoke billowed out.

"All yours," smiled Hagrid as Hari stared at the amount of money she had in the vault. So much gold, silver and bronze coins, forming heaps and piles and little mounds. She had never been this rich before.

_This should only be your trust vault. The rest of your fortune awaits your coming of age,_ Riddle said, as she watched Hagrid (who had recovered from the ride) take some coins out and filled up a small bag with them. There were probably enough coins in that bag for double her school supplies and more.

"The gold ones are Galleons," Hagrid explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon, and twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough."

Then he turned to Griphook. "Vault Seven Hundred and Thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only," said Griphook, looking amused at Hagrid's discomfort.

So off they went again, going deeper and deeper into the underground. The air got colder, and they seemed to be travelling faster too. At one point in time, they went over a ravine, and Hari leaned over to try and see the bottom. Hagrid wasn't pleased with her lack of self-preservation and pulled her back. Of course, he didn't know that she had ways to fall into a chasm and survive without a bruise. He didn't know her former mentor had once pushed her into a ravine before, to force her into panicking enough to summon her first Toad.

They reached Vault Seven Hundred and Thirteen soon enough, and Hari noticed that the vault had no keyhole.

"Stand back," Griphook said importantly. He stroked the door with one of his long fingers and it melted away at his touch.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook. Hari blinked.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's in there?"

"About once every ten years," the goblin grinned nastily, making Hari shudder involuntarily, suddenly reminded of other sadistic people she knew. Like Anko. Or worse, Orochimaru. Zetsu... Though he wasn't exactly a person.

The vault was empty, except for a small package lying on the floor, wrapped in brown paper, which Hagrid picked up and kept deep inside one of his large pockets. The package was about the size of Hari's fist. A large pendant or a locket perhaps? Neither Hari nor Riddle could guess what the package held.

After another exhilirating cart ride, Hari found herself standing in the bright sunlight outside Gringotts. Hagrid waved her towards a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Hari was about to ask him if she could do her shopping by herself (she wanted to have the freedom to explore the place without an adult tagging along), when Hagrid said, "Listen, Harriet, would you mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."

Hari happily agreed. Hagrid was nice, very nice. But she still wanted to have fun without him supervising, and she was used to being independent anyway. Riddle agreed with her. Apparently, when he was her age, he had gotten his school supplies without anyone accompanying him.

* * *

Madam Malkin was a short and plump witch dressed all in pale pinkish-purple. She smiled at Hari when she entered the shop.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, before Hari could say anything. "Got the lot here—another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

As Hari was guided further into the shop by the witch, she saw a boy standing on a stool in the back of the shop. He had a pale, pointed face, and was having his black robes adjusted by another witch. Madam Malkin brought her over to the boy and got her to stand on a stool too, before pulling a long robe over her and started adjusting its length with pins.

"Hello," said the boy. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yep," said Hari, as she observed that he had really pale blonde hair. A few images of haughty men with similar white blonde hair appeared in her mind, along with two names, courtesy of Riddle.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," drawled the boy, evidently trying to strike some conversation, if the boredom in his voice was of any indication. "Then I'm going to drag them of to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

_Definitely a Malfoy,_ said Riddle, scowling for some reason. _I knew his grandfather and his father. Death Eaters, the both of them._

**_Well, it seems like they're enjoying their peaceful normal wizarding lives without you. I was under the impression that criminals like your followers should be heavily punished. Locked up in that wizard prison of yours. Azkaban, was it? Or do wizarding folk have a different idea of justice?_** Kurama commented snidely. **_But then again, they seem pretty rich. This twerp here sounds quite spoiled. Money goes a long way, eh?_**

Hari finally understood what was upsetting the fallen Dark Lord. He wasn't happy with the Malfoys' loyalty or lack thereof, and her resident demon and spirit both seem to think that they escaped judgment by the wizarding authorities for being Death Eaters by bribing them.

_Think about it this way, isn't self-preservation a Slytherin trait?_ Hari said to Riddle, more to get rid of the headache he was giving her than to protect some strangers she didn't know from his future wrath.

"Have you got your own broom?" the boy—Malfoy—said, interrupting her thoughts. Hari decided that since the boy was so persistent in making conversation, she might as well get around making new friends, even if he did seem somewhat spoilt. Like a pampered version of the Neji she knew before he had a dose of her Therapy no Jutsu, as Kurama liked to call it.

"Nope, not a magic one," she replied, thinking of the normal brooms used to sweep the floor. The boy raised an eyebrow at that, but did not comment. Instead, he went on to ask, "Play Quidditch at all?"

"Haven't got a chance to. But it sounds fun," Hari said, having heard Riddle tell her about Quidditch before. A sport played on broomsticks, which he was not interested in.

_Your life will depend on a single stick of wood, more than fifty feet away from the ground,_ Riddle said irritably. _Naturally, your blatant disregard for your life and your fancy ninja skills will allow you to enjoy such a life-threatening game._

Hari was beginning to wonder just how much he feared death, and did not bother mentioning that a majority of the wizarding folk seem to be depending on sticks of wood for just about everything anyway, because according to Riddle, average witches and wizards do not use wandless magic much, if at all. Besides, wasn't there a charm or spell to stop someone from crashing to the ground if a mid-air accident occurs?

"Of course it's fun! Pity you haven't played before. Some parents seem to think it's too dangerous a sport. (Here, Hari wanted to laugh at Riddle.) But Father says its a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" said Malfoy, not noticing her distraction. It got somewhat annoying at times, having to split her attention between the conversation in her head and the conversation outside her mind.

"Nope. Probably not Ravenclaw though," Hari replied. She just wasn't really a book-ish sort of person. Oh, she enjoyed works of fiction when she could get her hands on them, which was not often, but she didn't like studying much. Riddle agreed she seemed better practical work than theory.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been—imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" said Malfoy. Riddle muttered something about Malfoys and Slytherins and loyalty. Hari ignored the sullen spirit.

"If your family's the Slytherin sort, wouldn't Gryffindor be worse?" Hari asked, without answering his question. She didn't have a problem with Hufflepuff, since she did value loyalty. Though she would prefer to be in Gryffindor, no matter what Riddle says about Slytherin being the better house (there was one time when he pointed out that a green, silver and black uniform would match her eyes better than a red, gold and black one, as if that had anything to do with her housing decision).

"Oh, don't jinx it!" Malfoy said, aghast. "My parents will kill me if I'm Sorted into Gryffindor!"

Hari was pleased to have gotten such a violent reaction from the boy, and said, "What if they don't kill you? Would you mind Gryffindor?"

Malfoy looked mildly disgusted. "I heard they're brainless reckless idiots. Bravery they call it. Lack of self-preservation, more like."

"Really? I think I'm going to be in Gryffindor then, because I'm told I'm a brainless reckless idiot with no sense of self-preservation more than once," Hari said amiably, and grinned cheekily. Riddle muttered something that sounded like, "You are."

Meanwhile, Malfoy seemed somewhat disconcerted, as if he didn't know if he should feel ashamed about his comment, disturbed by her cheerful self-deprecation, or annoyed with her admission of stupidity. Hari found it very entertaining to watch his pale face constantly change expression so ever subtly as he tried to decide how to respond to what she said.

_Congratulations,_ said Riddle dryly. _You've just succeeded in stumping the Malfoy scion with the near-nonsensical tangled mess of ideas that makes up your brain._

"If I were you, when faced with something that someone said that confuses you, I'd ignore what the person said and file it for later analysation. Especially if you doubt it matters at the moment," Hari said helpfully, as she applied her own advise herself, after having decided that she didn't need to know if Riddle had been insulting or complimenting her then.

"Thank you?" said Malfoy uncertainly, and looked about, as if unsure on how to continue the conversation. Then both children saw Hagrid waving at Hari outside the shop window, two large cones of ice-cream in hand.

"Look at that man!" Malfoy exclaimed. "Is he waving to you?"

"Yep, that's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts," Hari said merrily, feeling rather touched with the giant's gesture. "Quite a nice guy, despite his appearance. I think he just bought me an ice-cream."

"Oh. Well I heard he's sort of a servant, isn't he?" Malfoy said, frowning slightly at Hagrid.

"He's the gamekeeper. Not quite a servant. Now don't be rude. He's the nicest person I've met from the wizarding world so far," chided Hari, mildly annoyed with the boy's behavior. At least Malfoy looked somewhat sheepish at her words, though he struggled to appear offended, pale cheeks easily flushed.

He opened his mouth, then swallowed his words. He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Why is he with you? Where are your parents? They are our kind, aren't they?"

"My parents are dead. One of them is a pureblood, the other a Muggleborn, if that's what you're asking. A bit insensitive of you to ask an orphan about blood purity, don't you think? When pureblood doesn't seem to make you any more immortal than the average witch or wizard," said Hari matter-of-factly, and waited to see his reaction. He flushed pink again (which Hari thought was quite cute—oh he was going to be lots of fun), looking a little mortified though his face was rather expressionless.

_He probably just failed his father in the subtler arts of conversation-making, I should think. I'm sure even Lucius knows better than to make remarks when speaking to a stranger before finding out how useful they are to him,_ Riddle said scornfully. He seemed to have taken offense at the blood purity question as well. _Not surprising, considering the fact that he too was a half-blooded orphan, and this was the son of one of his more favored followers talking._ (Talk about irony.)

"I'm sorry," Malfoy finally said, though Hari couldn't really tell if he was truly sorry or not. He didn't sound apologetic, but Riddle said that might just be his Malfoy pride interfering with his ability to apologise properly. It seemed like his Malfoy pride was interfering with his ability to speak too, because he was silent for a while, though he looked like he wanted to say something.

_No, I think that would be you,_ said Riddle.

_Me?_ Hari was bemused.

_Yes, you. I think he'd be more articulate before meeting you. I doubt Lucius would have allowed his son to be brought up like a proud pureblood only to fail at speaking with others._

_I feel... Honored._

_That's not the right thing to—Never mind. This is you we're talking about. _

"What's your name?" Malfoy asked at last, sounding quite exasperated. Hari felt quite smug after that. Exasperating two Slytherins in a day. Not too bad.

"When you want to learn someone else's name, you should give your first," Hari replied with a smirk, quoting what her best friend said all those years ago, in the other life, when Neji demanded for his name.

The Malfoy boy suppressed a sigh, and said, "I'm Draco Malfoy. You?"

Hari grinned, and stuck out a hand towards Draco Malfoy. "Harriet Potter, pleased to meet you! What should I call you? Malfoy or Draco?"

The boy stared at her, then at her offered hand, then back at her again. If he had been baffled by her earlier, now he was completely stunned. There was a certain blankness, of incomprehension, in his silvery grey eyes (like river stones, thought Hari) as he stared at Hari, and Hari deduced that his brain must have short-circuited the same way hers had before.

Finally, the Malfoy's training must have kicked in, because the boy managed to school his expression into a polite smile, and he shook her offered hand. "Pleased to meet you too, Harriet Potter. You can call me Draco."

"In that case, call me Hari. I like it better than Harriet," Hari said. "Wanna be friends?"

Draco hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Wonderful!" Hari was delighted. A new friend! And he was so much fun too!

_I doubt this is going to last if you end up in Gryffindor,_ Riddle commented. Hari wondered if this was another ploy to get her into Slytherin, but he had a point.

"Well then, if you're going to be in Slytherin, and I in Gryffindor, we can be rivals!" Hari declared to Draco who considered her words and seemed satisfied. But before he could reply, Madam Malkin came along and said to Hari, "You're done, dear."

"See you at Hogwarts?" Hari grinned at the boy as she hopped off the stool. Draco gave her a wry smile.

"Yeah, I suppose. Or on the train," he said. Hari agreed and waved as she skipped out to join Hagrid.

After Hari and Hagrid bought her school books from Flourish and Botts (Hagrid wouldn't let her buy any other books, especially one on curses and countercurses, so Riddle took note of all the interesting books to be owl-ordered later), they bought her a pewter cauldron set, a set of brass scales, a collapsible telescope and some crystal phials.

Hari also stopped by a small shop selling trinkets, pendants and other accessories. She bought a few hair clips, because her hair was a little too messy, and a few hair ties, in case she decided the keep her hair long like she used to in her past life.

Then they visited the Apothecary, and Hari examined the many items in the shop—herbs, dried ingredients, animal parts, slimy substances in barrels, colorful powders in jars—especially the eyeballs and dead animals floating in jars of yellowish liquid, with morbid fascination while Hagrid bought her potion ingredients for class.

The wand shop was next, but Hagrid insisted on buying her a birthday present first. She protested, saying he already bought her a birthday cake, but he told her he'd get her an owl anyway, because they were very useful pets, and Hari had to agree.

(Hagrid decided on an owl partly due to her school supplies list, which said she could bring a toad or a cat or an owl. And he said that cats make him sneeze while toads were out of fashion, which annoyed Hari a little. She had considered getting Gamakichi to act as her 'pet', since the list didn't say she could bring a snake—according to Riddle, the school probably deemed snakes as dark creatures... Not that Nibuya would have liked the idea of being anyone's pet anyway...)

* * *

Some time later, they walked towards Ollivander's shop, a wand shop that looked somewhat narrow and shabby, with dusty windows. Hari was now carrying a cage with a beautiful snowy owl sleeping inside it. The bird had been bought from Eeylops Owl Emporium, a large dimly lit shop selling owls.

Ollivander's shop seemed empty when they entered. The silent shop was filled with dust and slender boxes piled to the ceiling. A single chair sat at the side, which Hagrid took, though Hari wondered if the fragile-looking chair could take his weight.

Just then, her kunoichi senses prickled, and she spun around to come face to face with a pair of pale shining eyes. Hari felt her heart slam against her ribcage as she tried to appear unsurprised while letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Good afternoon," said the owner of the pale eyes, an old man that had a certain air of mystery about him. Hari heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like wood cracking and wondered if Hagrid got a fright too. She hoped the chair wasn't too damaged. But then again, the wizarding folk had repairing spells, didn't they?

"Good afternoon," Hari replied politely. The old man nodded.

"Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Harriet Potter," he said calmly. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday that she came here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Hari was barely listening to the rest of his speech, wondering instead, if the old man was human. He looked human enough, though his eyes never seemed to blink. Yet, there was a strange feeling she got from him.

_I sometimes suspect he may have some magical creature blood in him,_ Riddle said.

Suddenly, Hari found Mr Ollivander's face a mere inch away, as he stared at her forehead. She mentally scolded herself for not paying attention to her surroundings.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," the wandmaker said softly, as he touched her lightning-bolt scar with a long finger (Riddle hissed in her mind at the old man when he did that). "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... Well, if I had known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

Then Mr Ollivander spotted Hagrid and turned his attention to the giant. He chatted with the giant about his wand, making Hagrid rather nervous about his umbrella, before coming back to Hari and asked her for her wand arm.

"I'm right-handed," Hari said, though she had trained herself to be ambidextrous. Ollivander measured her with a long tape, then left the evidently charmed tape there to measure her by itself. Meanwhile, he began rummaging through shelves and boxes, telling her about his business as he went.

Half an hour later, Hari had waved twenty-odd wands and none seemed to match. But the old wandmaker seemed even more pleased the more wands they went.

"Tricky customer," he said merrily. "Not to worry, there's sure to be a match here somewhere. Now, I wonder... Well, why not? Here, try this one. An unusual combination: holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Hari took the pale brown wand, and immediately felt a gentle rush of energy through her fingers. Warmth seeped from the wand to her hand, or was it the other way around? She waved the wand, and sensed the magic that flowed through her, like blood, through the wand and out from its tip in the form of red and golden sparks that lit the air with firefly-like spots of light. Hagrid cheered from where he stood.

"Excellent! Yes, indeed, very good... But how curious... Very curious..." said Mr Ollivander and stared at Hari, who wondered what had she done now.

He kept Hari's wand back in its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering the word 'curious'. Curiouser and curiouser, thought Hari, though she forgot where she had read that phrase. Probably one of Dudley's old books that he threw away before even reading them.

"What's curious?" asked Hari, when it seemed like Ollivander wasn't going to explain himself. The wandmaker turned and stared at her, pale eyes still unblinking.

"I remember every wand I've sold, Miss Potter. Every single wand," he said. "It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather—just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother, why, its brother gave you that scar."

Hari froze, while Riddle mused, _That sounds interesting, though if its of any significance, it doesn't seem like a good thing to me._

And she heard Mr Ollivander going on to say, "... Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Miss Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things—terrible, yes, but great."

After that, she paid seven galleons for the wand and left the shop with Hagrid, Mr Ollivander bowing to the as they went. Meanwhile, Hari wondered how interesting her life was going to get at this rate.

* * *

Later that day, Hari took the Knight bus to Mrs Figg's house and stayed there for the night. She let her stay with her for the rest of the holidays too, and Hari had more animals than ever for company, and none of them were ordinary. (All normality, she discovered, had fled through the window the day she discovered she was a kunoichi and a witch.)

* * *

**That's all for now. Please review or comment~ And feel free to ask any questions~! Oh, and do let me know if you spot any language mistakes or factual errors. (Does anyone want to be my Beta?)**

**_IMPORTANT A/N!_: As I will be going overseas later this week, I won't be updating until I come back, which may be next month. Sorry guys! I'll try to see if I can upload the next chapter two weeks from now. If not... Yeah. **

**To the Guest who wanted a longer chapter: Did you like this chapter? Well, in answer to your question, Iruka will not be reincarnated and (SPOILER!) Kakashi will be an 'original character', just like Sasuke.**


	6. A Journey's Beginning

**Sorry guys for the wait~! Just came back from New Zealand yesterday. It was awesome. Since I'll be going overseas again and won't be back until next year, I'll be posting this short chapter up. Don't worry, when I get back, I'll give you guys a longer one.**

**Many thanks to all who have faved, followed and reviewed so far! You guys have been very encouraging XD**

**An early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you enjoy the chapter~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Harry Potter**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing _

_cancelled words_**]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs _**person B's writing**_** ]**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Journey's Beginning

_Make way for (the one who carries) the Heir of Slytherin (in her head), sirius-ly evil wizard coming through!_

* * *

Hari spent the rest of the summer break reading her school books (after much persuasion from Riddle), and practiced her kunoichi skills out in Mrs Figg's yard when no one was watching. Riddle suspected that the batty cat lady was a Squib and her cats, half-kneazle, but they couldn't be too sure. So whenever Hari practiced magic (Riddle assured her that the Trace would only activate when she attend Hogwarts for the first time), she would also make sure that Mrs Figg wasn't around.

At some point in time, Hari considered naming her snowy owl Hedwig, after a German witch mentioned in A History of Magic, but decided against it, when the intelligent owl (Hari was proud to say that she was comparable to Sasuke's Hawk even though she wasn't a shinobi animal) made an offended barking sound at the name.

Hari later tried a few other names that she found from her various school books, but the owl rejected all of them. It took Hari awhile to realise that the owl wanted a Japanese name like the rest of her animal friends. Thus, the snowy owl was named Fuyu, which meant 'Winter' in Japanese.

* * *

On September the first, Hari waved goodbye to Mrs Figg at six in the morning, and headed off for King's Cross station by herself, after casting a rather useful charm that Riddle had taught her to lighten her trunk and belongings. Then she got a little lost (she did leave early on purpose, knowing she might get lost) and managed to reach the station four-and-a-half hours later.

At half past ten, Hari stood at the space between Platforms Nine and Ten, staring at the brick barrier that Riddle said she had to walk through. It was quite bizarre and a little daunting to Hari, even with her ninja experience. It wasn't even a genjutsu that she could just dispel and walk through.

Then, just as she had begun attracting some stares from passers-by because of Fuyu, a family of redheads approached the barrier with trunks in their trolleys and an owl in a cage. There were four boys and a girl with their mother. All of them had fire-colored hair, quite like her mother, both in this life and in her previous life.

_Weasleys,_ observed Riddle, disdain evident in his tone. Hari took that as a good sign. Most of the people he didn't like seem to be nice folk. Still, Hari stayed where she was and made no move to meet the family yet. Riddle was threatening to give her a headache, and she was already feeling uncertain about running into a wall.

One by one the Weasleys went through the barrier. When she was quite sure she wasn't going to make a fool out of herself in front of a whole crowd of Muggles, she finally made her way to the barrier and went behind the last Weasley.

It was a strange sensation, like walking through water. And Hari found herself on the other side of the barrier, facing a magnificent looking red steam engine and a platform filled with witches and wizards. Overhead was a sign that said 'Hogwarts Express, Eleven O'clock'. She turned to look behind her, but the barrier was no longer there. In its place was an iron-wrought archway with the words 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters'.

The platform had quite a crowd, and Hari enjoyed the liveliness of the place. Smoke drifted over their heads, cats squeezing their way through their legs. Trunks and trolleys rattled while owls hooted, barked, and made all sorts of other noises. Just like in Diagon Alley, there was a charge in the air, the hint of magic that filled the place.

Hari elbowed her way through the jostling crowd, until she neared the end of the train and finally found an empty compartment. She carried her trunk and Fuyu aboard, feeling rather grateful for the Feather-light Charm that Riddle had taught her, and took a seat in the empty compartment. The rest of the train seemed full.

It was rather pleasant, sitting in the compartment and listening to the activity around her. Families were seeing their children off (which made her hurt a little but she ignored it for the most part), teenagers were greeting friends and schoolmates, some people were looking for one another or their pets...

"Now you two—this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've-you've blown up a toilet or—"

Hari poked her head out of the window.

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

There—the Weasleys. The mother was talking to a pair of twins.

"Great idea though, thanks Mom."

They were pranksters, no doubt.

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up."

Hari had to agree with the boy called Ron. His twin brothers sounded far from safe. Not that she minded.

"We'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mom."

Hari wondered if they recruited first-years for pranking business. She'd join in a heartbeat.

A whistle sounded. Then, not too long later, the train began to move. Hari was beyond excited at the thought of attending a magical school. From what Riddle told her, it sounded somewhat different from (and a lot more interesting than) the Ninja Academy.

Houses and fields flashed by the window. Farms and trees, and forests and lakes. Skies, and clouds, and sheep. Hari blinked and the sheep were gone, making her wonder if she had imagined them.

Then the peace was gone with a loud crash outside the compartment. Hari turned away from the scenery outside the window, but couldn't see what was the matter. Then there was a blur and a thump, like someone hitting the compartment door. Curious, she got up and slid open the door and a boy tumbled backwards into the compartment. Another boy staggered but did not fall from the sudden lack of support.

Hari stared at the two boys—a redhead and a blonde—and what seemed like the remnants of a scuffle. Ron had a black-eye and Draco had a bruised cheek.

"What's going on?" Hari asked. Draco opened his mouth but the Weasley boy beat him to it.

"I was just minding my own business when Malfoy bumped into me. Didn't even apologise and demanded to know if I'd seen Harriet Potter. I told him no. As if Harriet Potter would want to see him. And he," Ron jabbed a finger in Draco's direction. "Said he's friends with her!"

Hari didn't really see how fists were introduced into the argument, but then he looked like he might not know either. Sometimes fights break out without warning and weave seamlessly into an otherwise verbal argument.

"So why couldn't he be friends with Harriet Potter?" Hari asked, cutting across Draco before he could say a word, wanting to know what Ron had to say about Malfoys and Harriet Potter before he found out who she was.

"Well, everyone knows that his family's dark. His parents are followers of You-Know-Who," Ron explained, and Hari raised a hand like a kid in class.

"Wait. Who?" Hari asked, acting the part of an innocent Muggleborn.

"What?" Ron looked bewildered.

"I don't know who."

"Don't know who's who?"

"Yes. Who is who?"

"Uh... I'm not sure—"

"But you said you knew who."

"What? Wait, were you referring to You-Know-Who?"

"I just told you I don't know who."

There was a loud sigh. Hari turned away from Ron to look at Draco, and said the first thing that came into her mind (which she suspected was placed there by Riddle), in a cold voice, "Malfoys do not sigh."

"I think my father might understand once he meets you, Potter," Draco retorted, flushing slightly. Hari grinned, having noticed Draco jerk in alarm when she said that, a very small reaction that went unnoticed by Ron.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Draco."

"Potter? As in Harriet Potter?" Ron demanded, looking very shocked. Hari waved.

"That's me. You must be Ron Weasley," she said and offered him a hand. He was still sitting on the floor of the train compartment.

"Uh—Yeah. How did you know?" he asked as he took her hand and she hauled him up.

"Well I heard your mother talking to your twin brothers. They sound cool. Can you introduce me to them?" Hari said eagerly. The redheaded boy stared.

"Fred and George? They're annoying prats," Ron scowled, evidently not very pleased with his older brothers, then he seemed to realise something. "You were joking about not knowing You-Know-Who, weren't you?"

"Who?"

Ron groaned, and Hari laughed, "Sorry, just kidding. Couldn't resist."

"That was confusing," Ron complained.

"It certainly would have been if I were a clueless Muggleborn," Hari said.

"But you're not a filthy Mudblood," said Draco, sounding somewhat annoyed. "And really, you shouldn't be make friends with blood traitors. The whole lot of them are idiots."

Hari frowned. "My mother was a Muggleborn. Lily Potter. I'm sure you've heard of her. And if blood traitor means Muggle-friendly wizards or witches, then I'm probably one."

Then she gave Draco and mock-thoughtful look. "But then again, we already established that, didn't we? I'm going to be an idiotic half-blooded Gryffindor, so why are you still here, Malfoy?"

When Draco's pale face turned pink again, and he seemed to be searching for some insult to throw back, Hari spoke before he could, "I'm not saying we can't be friends. I don't care who your parents are. But I expect you, and anyone else who wish to be my friend, to put aside their parents' differences as well. Draco, you're going to be a Slytherin, right? Think about it."

Then Ron realised that she was referring to him as well and protested, "But his family's Dark! You can't be seriously considering being friends with the Malfoys!"

Hari glared at the both of them, then she shoved Ron out of the compartment. "I make friends with whoever I want. Of course, I may end up making friends with the wrong sort, but I expect any of my friends to point that out only after they've gotten to know the person, not judge the person the moment they meet. When you no longer have a problem with that, you can come in."

Then she slammed the compartment door closed. (But not before she got the satisfaction of seeing two shocked faces staring at her.)

_Wrong sort,_ Hari snorted to herself. The only person she's had the misfortune of befriending wrongly so far was Kabuto.

**_That's because your enemies become your friends whether they planned to or not,_** Kurama pointed out. **_Sasuke... Zabuza... Gaara... Nagato... Obito..._**

_Yeah, yeah. I get it. Isn't that a good thing, though?_

**_I suppose..._**

_Who do you consider an enemy? _Riddle asked.

_Anyone who hurt my home or friends. But that doesn't mean I can't consider an enemy a friend,_ Hari said, automatically thinking about Sasuke. _Of course, even if the person hurt my friends before, if he or she has uh... _

**_Been Therapy-Talked into changing their minds and stop fighting you and your friends,_** supplied Kurama with a smirk that she could feel.

_Well yeah, that. Then... The enemy can become a friend._

_Therapy-talked?_

**_Therapy no Jutsu. It's not an actual technique, but the brat has the ability to talk her enemies into becoming friends._**

_Kurama here, is one such example, _Hari said proudly. She didn't like the way Kurama speaks about her way of making friends, because he always made it sound ridiculous, but she was quite pleased with her accomplishments.

**_We're not friends, brat, _**the demon fox said irritably. Hari merely hummed annoyingly in response.

Just then, the compartment door slid open, and two red-haired boys poked their heads in.

"Hello," said one, grinning.

"We were just wondering—" said the other.

"Why are there two boys standing red-faced outside your compartment door—"

"Looking like little kids sent out of class for misbehavior?"

"They've been staring at the door like they want to come in."

"One of them is our brother, by the way, and the other is a Malfoy."

"Seems like they've had a fight—"

"And while we don't take kindly to anyone who hurts our ickle brother—"

"Especially if its a Malfoy—"

"The scene is rather funny—"

"So we were wondering if you could tell us what happened—"

"Because they seem to have lost their voices."

Hari thought Zetsu was bad, but these twins seemed worse. At least they didn't look like a cannibalistic plant...

"Oh. They're still there?" Hari said, amused.

"Yes, ickle Ronniekins has a very red face—"

"All the way to his ears—"

"And the Malfoy prat is the pinkest we've ever seen."

"Were they fighting over you?"

"We've got to tell Mom if our brother has found a girl he likes on his first day of school."

"Uh, no. Not exactly. I suppose you guys are Fred and George Weasley? The famous pranksters I've heard about?" Hari said. The Weasley twins exchanged identical grins and mock-bowed.

"Yes, milady. Pardon us for not introducing ourselves."

"Fred and George Weasley, Pranksters Extraordinaire."

Hari grinned back at them, and stuck out both hands before crossing them.

"Harriet Potter, honoured to meet you," she said. Their eyes widened.

"Blimey, we're talking to—"

"_The_ Harriet Potter!"

"Just Hari, please," Hari requested, then thought about it. "But... You don't suppose you could allow The Harriet Potter to help out with your pranks this coming school year?"

The twins gaped, then regained their wits, exchanging glances.

"A first year? Helping us?"

"But it _is_ Harriet Potter."

They turned back to Hari. "We would be honored to let you join us in pranking, but—"

"Only next year onwards."

"First, you'll have to prove to us—"

"That you've got what it takes."

Hari blinked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Yes," they chorused. And she laughed, deciding that she did like the twins very much. "Challenge accepted!"

Then she tried to see behind them, but failed. She turned to them. "Can you ask the two idiots to come in?"

"Sure," said a twin.

"We've got to go. A friend of ours wants to show us his tarantula. See you later," said the other. They waved and retreated, and closed the compartment door.

Moments later, the door opened again and Draco and Ron entered, looking distinctively uncomfortable.

"So, what's the verdict?" she asked. They remained silent.

Hari huffed. "You know, I don't expect you two to be super polite to one another or something. Insult each other if you like. Just don't expect me to not be friends the other just because one of you can't stand the sight or sound of him. And of course, I expect you two not to kill each other or something."

"I guess... Well, I suppose I don't mind if you be friends with the Malfoy git... as long as I don't have to get along with him and... you don't become a slimy Slytherin as well," said Ron with much effort.

"What if I said I like snakes?" Hari asked, curious. Ron turned a funny shade of color.

"Snakes do not equate to evil, you know. And neither do Slytherins. Of course, I don't expect to get into Slytherin anyway. But you should know I have nothing against them... Yet," she elaborated.

"I... That's... Okay, I guess? Better than spiders," Ron finally said, and shuddered.

_He shouldn't have said that,_ Riddle commented.

Hari raised an eyebrow. (It was, she realised, a very useful way of expressing one's doubt, and she had learnt it from Riddle. She was also beginning to suspect that the Slytherin traits she had developed were due to his influence.)

"I don't think you should have said that in front of Draco," she said to Ron, glancing at the blonde who was still silent.

Ron looked confused. "Why?"

"You live with your twin brothers, both pranksters, and you don't know why?" Hari asked with some disbelief.

"Blackmail material," Draco said smoothly. He seemed to have gone back to normal, his face having returned to its haughty and pale look.

Ron reddened when he realised his mistake.

"Well, I suppose I could tolerate the Weasley's presence if I'm not expected to be friends with him," said Draco, as he turned to Hari. "It should provide some entertainment, at the very least."

Hari clapped her hands. "Wonderful! Now, tell me about Quidditch."

"Quidditch? You don't know about Quidditch?" Ron suddenly blurted. It seemed like the sport took priority over all his other concerns. Which was good, because she hadn't been sure if he was as into the game as Draco seemed to be.

"I live with my Muggle relatives, so no. I know a bit about the game but I thought I might get better information from people who love the game," she explained. Draco shot her a look that was a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

Soon, Hari found herself thoroughly taught about the game, with Draco sitting across her and Ron beside her. The both of them seemed to be able to work together when faced with the horror someone ignorant of the wonders of Quidditch. There seemed to be a lot more to it than the little things Riddle had told her about.

Ron, she decided, was friendly enough, unlike Draco who seemed to need a little thawing. However, she was amused to find that the both of them were a lot more similar than they'd like. Both of them were easy to rile up and embarrass, fun to tease, and held quite some prejudice against each other because of what their families taught them.

But Hari was happy. It seemed like a rather promising start of the year.

* * *

**That's all for now. Told ya it was short. Next chapter up next year (maybe the 4th or 5th Jan?)**

**Please review and feel free to leave any questions or comments~! I'll try my best to answer any question outside spoiler-zone XD**

**And please let me know if I've made any language errors or factual mistakes! Thanks~**


	7. New Friends

**Sorry for the long wait guys ^^" I've been busy and will get busier, since I'm getting a temporary job soon. I'll still try to update as soon as I can, of course. Thanks to all who have shown your support with favs, follows and reviews~!**

**Here's the next chapter, where more characters are introduced. Hope you enjoy it~! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Potterverse nor the Narutoverse. Any part of the story that is similar or quoted from the books, movies, manga or anime belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing _

_cancelled words_**]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs _**person B's writing**_** ]**

* * *

Chapter 7: New Friends

_Books and cleverness! There are far more important things, like friendship and bravery._

* * *

A smiling witch came by with a trolley full of snacks and candy around lunchtime, and Hari eagerly bought a bit of everything. The eggs she had for breakfast at five plus in the morning had long been digested and gone. Draco also bought some snacks and candy, though Ron didn't buy anything. Instead, he took out some packed sandwiches.

When Hari realised that Ron couldn't afford the 'luxury', she offered some to him, claiming she bought too much when it seemed like he wasn't going to accept the 'charity'. He was quite stubborn, but Hari could be even more stubborn when she wanted to.

"Oh for the love of kami, we can swap food if you want. And I like sharing food anyway. That's what friends do, don't they? You're offending me if you consider this 'charity'," she finally said and dumped some of the food she bought onto his lap. The boy flushed and accepted the food meekly.

When Hari looked up to see Malfoy sneering at them, she threw a Licorice Wand at him. The wand-shaped candy hit him like a dart and he scowled at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're entitled to your own opinion, of course. But I'm entitled to mine too. And mine insists I throw something at you," she said cheekily. Draco glared and muttered something under his breath.

Hari chose to ignore him after that and happily dug into a cauldron cake. A brown frog leaped across her vision and she caught it with kunoichi reflexes before it went out of the window. She realised the frog was sticky and smelled sweet.

"The Chocolate Frogs can jump?" she asked, fascinated.

"Er, yeah," said Ron, looking a little distracted. "They stop moving once you bite them though." Then he went on to explain the collection of Chocolate Frog cards, which were cards that came with the candy, featuring famous witches and wizards. Each card had a picture (Hari loved the magic that was living moving pictures) of the witch or wizard as well as some information about said witch or wizard.

"I've got Ptolemy," Draco said with a smug smirk when Ron said he was missing Agrippa and Ptolemy from his collection. Meanwhile, Hari ate the Chocolate Frog that Ron had lost, and handed him another. Then, ignoring the two of them who seemed like they were going to launch into another quarrel, she unwrapped a Chocolate Frog to see what card she got.

A few Chocolate Frogs and cards later (she found a Dumbledore one, along with a Morgana, a Circe, a Paracelsus and a Merlin), she looked up to see them still quarreling, and threw a Licorice Wand at Draco while elbowing Ron. That got their attention pretty quickly.

"That hurt," Ron whined. "Why is your elbow so sharp?"

"It was meant to hurt," said Hari, then gestured to the Chocolate Card Frogs. "Is Riddle featured in one of these?"

"Who?" Both boys looked confused.

_Most people do not know my real name,_ Riddle said, sounding rather displeased at the use of his Muggle name.

_It's not like they would have understood Hebi-sensei or Tori-ue,_ Hari replied. Aloud, she said, "_You Know_."

Ron looked even more baffled, but Draco got it after some staring at her face. As if her face was a book with answers.

"You-Know-Who?" he questioned, and glared at her to warn her against pretending not to know who. She grinned.

"Yeah. The Dark Lord," she confirmed. "Is there a Chocolate Frog card with him on it?"

"Why in the name of Merlin would you want You-Know-Who?" Ron demanded. "I thought you of all people—"

"I don't _want_ him, I was just wondering if there was a card with him on it," Hari corrected, cutting him off. _Besides, I already have a part of him living in my head._

"You called him 'the Dark Lord'," Draco observed with a strange expression. Hari tilted her head as she glanced at Draco.

"What? Sorry? Would you prefer 'Voldemort'?"

The two boys flinched at the name, as she had expected them to (and was quite pleased with their reactions—Hagrid himself had jerked most amusingly and violently the first time she used the name.)

"You said his name!" Ron exclaimed, looking quite horrified.

"You-Know-Who is confusing. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is simply too long. So it's either Voldemort or the Dark Lord," Hari said. "Both of which you guys seem to have a problem with. What? Am I supposed to call him Voldie then? Or Lord Snake? Or-"

"That's... Quite enough," Draco hastily interrupted. "'The Dark Lord's fine. It's just that usually only his supporters call him that."

"Really? But he is—was—whatever a Dark Lord, isn't he?" Hari said idly.

_You are being purposely obtuse,_ Riddle sighed.

_Please, I could have argued that Voldemort is just a name. And that it isn't even a proper name,_ Hari replied.

"Anyway, we've gone off point," Hari announced when the two boys were simply giving her exasperated looks. "I don't suppose the Dark Lord is featured on a Chocolate Frog card, is he?"

"No, and they're wise not to put him on one," Draco said. "Not for another fifty years to a decade, at least."

"Ah, pity," Hari said to herself. Somewhere in her head, she heard Kurama snort, while Riddle muttered something that sounded unpleasant but she didn't catch it.

* * *

The next time the sliding door opened, Hari and Ron were trying out her packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. So far, she had gotten grass, strawberry, toast, pepper, coffee and coconut. Ron had it worse with sprouts, almond, liver, pumpkin, soap and lemon.

Meanwhile, Draco was looking out of the window, eating a pumpkin pasty and ignoring the both of them. The scenery outside was beautiful with rolling green hills, woodlands and meandering rivers that gleamed silver-blue in the sunlight.

The boy at the door looked like a first-year, with a round face, dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was a bit short and chubby, and reminded Hari of Choji.

"Sorry," he said. "But have you seen a toad at all?"

All three of them shook their heads and he began wailing, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

Hari felt quite sorry for the boy, especially since he seemed fond of his toad and she liked toads. _Riddle, any advice?_

_A Summoning Charm should do it, but it's a fourth-year spell,_ Riddle said.

_You're being helpful. It's creepy,_ Hari commented. Aloud, she said to the boy, "Have you asked the prefects? Or the upper years? They could use a Summoning Charm."

The plump boy mumbled his thanks and left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

Scabbers was the fat brown rat that Ron had brought with him. Draco had given the rat the most disgusted look she'd ever seen on his face, when he first saw it, and Hari was somewhat relieved to know that 'Mudbloods' weren't the worst in his mind. Hari herself didn't really like the rat, because there was something off about it that she couldn't identify.

The rat was sleeping in Ron's lap at the moment, and Ron was saying he'd like to turn the rat into another color. Then Draco nastily offered to turn it pink with green spots, earning an indignant yelp from Ron, who was now clutching the rat close to his chest, away from Draco's wand.

Then the compartment door slid open again. The plump boy was back, this time with a girl already wearing her Hogwarts robes (Hari, who hadn't wanted to wear her Hogwarts robes to King's Cross station, was still in her plain white shirt, hand-me-down pants and old sneakers). She had bushy brown hair.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said bossily.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl was distracted by Draco's wand and hadn't heard him.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then."

Both Ron and Draco frowned at her as she sat down beside Draco.

"Wait, aren't you here about Neville's toad?" Hari asked. The girl's eyes widened comically, evidently having forgotten about the toad. Hari sighed and turned to the boy called Neville.

"Didn't you ask the upper years or the prefects?"

"They just laughed," mumbled the poor boy miserably. Hari narrowed her eyes, ignoring the soft snort she heard from Ron.

"They _what_?"

"Seriously, toads are out of fashion, Longbottom," Draco drawled.

"That's no excuse!" Hari hissed, annoyed. Insults and fights were one thing. Laughing at someone who has lost a pet they love is another. She was reminded of her previous childhood, where she was the loser of the class and had to fake bright smiles despite being laughed at.

"Did _all_ the prefects laugh?" she demanded.

"No," Neville mumbled. "But I didn't want to ask the rest..."

The bushy-haired girl spoke up, "I met him when he was standing outside one of their compartments. I thought we'd try the rest of the train again before asking them for help, since they weren't being very nice."

"Bet you ten knuts they were snakes," Ron said derisively. Draco scowled.

"And they would have every reason to—"

"Shut up," Hari said and threw another licorice wand at him.

"You're wasting food like that," the blonde boy said, though he didn't sound like he minded it much.

"You're eating them," Hari pointed out as he unwrapped the licorice wand. Then she opened Fuyu's cage. The large white owl made a funny sound that Hari had found was called a bark, even though the bird sounded nothing like a dog.

"Fuyu, can you help us find Neville's toad and bring it back, alive and uninjured?" she asked the bird. Fuyu clicked her beak and glared at Hari with golden amber eyes. Hari grinned sheepishly and added, "Please."

Then the snowy owl soared out of her cage and out of the compartment door.

"The toad might just die of fright even if your owl doesn't do a thing," Draco commented. "But she's a beauty."

"Where did you get her from?" the bushy-haired girl asked, looking quite enchanted by the owl. Ron merely looked a little envious.

"Hagrid, the school's gamekeeper, bought her for my birthday," Hari said proudly. Draco arched an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess he isn't so bad..." he said with a thoughtful look.

_No doubt wondering if getting gifts from that oaf is worth getting to know him,_ said Riddle snidely.

"What's her name?" the other girl asked.

"Fuyu. It means 'winter' in Japanese," Hari replied. "She's really clever."

"Oh. Are you Japanese? You don't look Japanese," said the girl. "You know, I considered getting an owl, but they're expensive. And I'm not sure if my family would like an owl in the house. Nobody in my family's magic at all. It was such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course. I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I heard—I've learnt all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough—I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

All four of them—Neville, Ron, Draco and Hari—were staring at her by then. She had said it all very fast, and Draco had begun sneering halfway through.

"Well, we might as well all introduce ourselves," Hari said, but she wasn't the first to say her name.

"Ron Weasley," said Ron faintly. Hari was sure he hadn't studied everything from the look on his face.

"Neville Longbottom," Neville said, looking rather pale, probably still worried about his toad.

"Draco Malfoy," Draco said stiffly, and seemed about to insult the girl who was evidently a Muggleborn, so Hari quickly interrupted, saying, "Harriet Potter."

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course—I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in—"

"I'm pretty sure ninety-nine percent of those books are quite mistaken," Hari commented dryly, cutting the girl off swiftly, before she could continue rattling off like a youthful Rock Lee doing his daily run. "I was sent to live with my Muggle relatives when I was one, and did not re-enter the wizarding world until a month ago. So unless there are secretly witch and wizard spies hiding out in my neighbourhood... And even then, I don't think you can actually get to know a person from a book."

Ron sniggered at that, and Hermione looked a little affronted at the idea that her books could be wrong. Draco was smirking.

"Well," Hermione began, huffing. "What house do you think you'll be in? I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best."

"Why? I'd have thought a book-smart girl like you would be in Ravenclaw," Hari said. "I heard that it's the house for the intelligent and knowledge-lovers."

Hermione shrugged with a small frown. "I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad..."

Then there was a commotion, and Neville ducked as Fuyu soared over his head and into the compartment, a small fat toad in her claws.

"Trevor!" yelled Neville happily when the owl dropped the toad into his hands. The toad croaked and seemed very much alive and unharmed. (Though Hari decided that ordinary toads like Trevor looked pretty hideous compared to the ones from Mount Myouboku.)

"Crabbe? Goyle?" Draco said. There were two boys behind Neville. Both looked like a flying bird had just attacked them.

"Friends of yours?" asked Hari. Draco frowned.

"Well, we've known one another since we were kids but..."

"They look like bodyguards to me," Ron snorted.

"Wow, you've got minions!" exclaimed Hari.

"What? No!"

"Malfoy, why are you... sitting with... Blood traitors?" one of the two new boys asked, like he had trouble forming sentences.

_The Crabbes and the Goyles haven't been known for much intelligence,_ Riddle commented. _But they have their uses._

"Is that a Mudblood?" asked the other boy. He was taller than the one who first spoke.

"Yes, she's what you would call a 'Mudblood'," Hari spoke up while Draco was floundering for some excuse. "And from what I gather so far, she seems a lot more intelligent than the two of you. But I shouldn't be surprised." She turned to Hermione. "What's that thing called? The one where children turn out worse due to marrying one's relatives too many times?"

"Inbreeding," Hermione proudly supplied, looking quite pleased at the opportunity to prove her intelligence.

"Yes, inbreeding," said Hari. "That's what you anti-Muggleborn purebloods do, right?"

"Shut up, Potter," Draco snapped, before turning to address his 'friends'. "Crabbe, Goyle, Father encourages me to gain connections when I can, and this here, is Harriet Potter. Never mind the blood traitor and Mudblood... Father will be pleased if he knows I've managed to make friends with _the_ Harriet Potter."

_He could become a blood traitor by association though, and I doubt his father will be pleased about that,_ Riddle commented. _I may be able to tolerate Mudbloods who are exceptionally talented _(here, Hari had knew he was referring to his attempt at recruiting her mother)_ and are willing to serve me, but I don't think Lucius is as lenient. _(And Hari had to snort at the idea of anyone being less lenient than the Dark Lord, but had to admit that the idea did sound somewhat scary.)

Crabbe and Goyle looked a little uncertain, and stood around the doorway awkwardly.

"Go on, you two. I'll join you later," Draco said and waved at them dismissively. Like obedient dogs, they left. Hari was now trying to draw parallels with this world and the shinobi one. There were the proud Hyuuga and Uchiha clans, though she didn't know much about the Uchiha... She didn't think they only allowed clan members to associate only with others from distinguished families...

"Draco, are you sure your father will be alright with this?" Hari asked worriedly. For a moment, Draco seemed surprised at her concern.

"I'll explain that I'm just doing this to get close to you and possibly influence you into our way of thinking," Draco said casually, though his eyes held a hint of worry. "It's what I'm really doing anyway. And you do need someone to teach you our culture. We can't have Harriet Potter acting almost as bad as a Mudblood."

_It's not as if no one tried,_ Riddle said sullenly. _He could teach you everything I taught you and more and you'd just throw our efforts out of the window anyway._

_Hebi-sensei, don't sulk. It's unbecoming,_ Hari replied cheekily. _And I don't throw your efforts away. I keep them in a box in my head and it they shall stay there gathering dust until I really need to use them._

"So is a Mudblood a witch or wizard with non-magical parents?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"No... It's someone who is smarter than the average pureblood," Hari deadpanned and Ron made an odd choking sound. Draco scowled and looked like he badly wanted to introduce his face to the nearest hard surface. Neville laughed shyly.

"Oh. Well, it doesn't sound like a good thing, but if you put it that way," Hermione said, and smiled. Hari noticed that she would have been quite pretty if her front teeth were smaller. And if Ino or Sakura ever got the chance to give her some hair-treatment.

"We should probably change into our school robes now," Draco announced as he glanced out of the window, choosing, wisely, to ignore Hari's more exasperating behavior.

Hari left first, going out of the compartment with her robes and found a washroom to change in. The train had only four cubicles—two at the front, two at the back—and she was surprised to find that they were all empty. Perhaps everyone had changed into their school robes earlier.

But when Hari walked out of the washroom a few minutes later, wearing the dreadfully boring black robes over the school uniform—a white buttoned shirt, a plain black tie, a dark V-neck jumper and a dark pleated skirt (a skirt! Hari had never worn a skirt before, not as Harriet, not as Naruko, and she wished she could wear the boy's uniform instead... Now there's a thought!)—the next cubicle was occupied and there were a few students waiting outside.

As Hari walked past a blonde girl waiting outside the cubicle she had been using, there was a funny sense of not-quite deja vu, a sense of familiarity that she couldn't place. The girl wasn't very remarkable, though she had a certain regal aura about her, and Hari wondered if she was a pureblood. If she was, then she might be related to Draco and that might explain the familiarity, Hari thought.

With one quick glance, Hari took note of the girl's appearance. The girl had long light blonde hair—darker than Draco's but lighter than Neville's—with side bangs, and was wearing a dark purple turtleneck shirt, a purple and black skirt, and black boots. Just as Hari was about to walk away, the girl noticed Hari looking at her and their eyes met. Her eyes were gray-blue.

Then the girl turned away and Hari walked off.

* * *

When Hari returned to her compartment, Draco was there but Ron was not. Hermione was also there with Neville. The two of them were discussing the Sorting, while Draco was ignoring them and was once again, looking out of the window (which, Hari realised, was probably the most civil he could be around a Muggleborn). All three were wearing school robes now.

They turned as she entered, and Hermione was the first to greet her.

"Oh good, you're back. Which house do you think you'll get in? I don't think you've answered that yet," she said.

"Not Ravenclaw," Hari said, a little sheepishly, and took the empty seat across Draco. "And perhaps not Hufflepuff. Loyal maybe. But not hardworking. At least, not in terms of studies."

"Neville thinks he might be in Hufflepuff, though his family were Gryffindors," Hermione said. "I don't understand why your family's house would matter. And then there's the house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It just sounds so silly."

"Nature versus nurture," Hari said. She hadn't understood it either, until Riddle explained it to her. "Often enough, your family raises you to become like them. And even if you don't end up like them, their opinions still matter. And about the house rivalry, I think it's because the 'personalities' of the two houses clash. One house believes in cunning and ambition, while the other house is more straightforward and believes in honour. Self-preservation and sly strategies versus chivalry and brave risk-taking."

"Oh," said Hermione, and lapsed into thoughtful silence.

"But don't opposites attract?" she finally asked.

"Not all of us are magnets," chuckled Hari. "But I don't see why not. Hey Draco, think we could still get along if we end up in the clashing houses?"

Draco looked a little annoyed at being included into the conversation, but nevertheless replied in a bored voice, "Not in public."

Hari beamed at him and he looked a little startled at her bright sunny smile.

"Does that mean we can still be friends? In secret? Cool!"

"Stay there," Draco ordered when she looked like she might launch herself at him. She grinned and tackled him into a hug anyway.

"Lighten up, Draco. No one's here to judge you if you become more friendly and drop that everyone's-beneath-me attitude."

Hermione giggled, and Neville looked shy and amused. Ron chose that moment to appear.

"Oi, what's going on here?" he demanded. Hari laughed.

"I'm annoying Draco. It's fun," she replied, and ruffled Draco's neatly combed hair. He yelped and shoved her away, pale cheeks now pink.

"You're infuriating, Potter! No doubt you'll end up a brainless Gryffindor," he snapped, as he fished out a comb and began combing his hair back. He was as fussy about appearances as Ino, Hari thought.

_I'm surprised he's still here,_ Riddle commented. _With you acting like that. I'd have hexed you and left if I were him._

_That's not how you make friends, Tori-ue,_ Hari chided teasingly.

"Yes, yes, we've established that already. Twice, in fact. This would be the third time. No need to state the obvious, Malfoy," Hari replied, imitating his usual drawling voice. Then she repeated what Riddle had said, "Why are you still here though? Didn't think you'd actually stay after I've annoyed you this much."

"I'm still considering whether being in the Girl-Who-Lived's good books is worth the trouble," Draco said irritably. Ron bristled, probably not pleased with the idea of the Malfoy befriending them for ulterior motives. Hermione looked a little affronted too.

"Say, Draco, have you seen a blonde girl with gray-blue eyes wearing a purple shirt, black and purple skirt and black boots?" Hari asked, knowing better than to take offence. She'll bring him 'round, she thought.

"That may be Greengrass. Daphne Greengrass," he said. "She likes purple. Why?"

"Oh, it's just that I saw someone like that earlier, and thought she looked familiar..."

"I doubt you'd know her. Her family is a pureblood family like ours. Father invited them for a couple of parties before. She's rather cold and quiet. I think she's more interested in flowers than people."

Just then, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Hari looked out of the window and saw a deep blue twilight sky like an upside-down bottomless ocean. The scenery was shadowy and hard to discern, but she noticed that there was a silhouette of a huge black castle in the far distance.

"Come on Fuyu, in you go," she told her owl as she waved at her to return to her cage. Fuyu obediently entered the cage and settled down in there.

"See you later," Hari said to the bird and left the compartment to join her new friends in a crowd of students jostling in the corridor.

* * *

Moments later, Hari found herself outside the train, following Hagrid along with all the other first years. The night was windy and cold, and the path was steep, narrow and very dark. Hari subconsciously warmed herself with a mixture of chakra and magic.

Then there was a chorus of noises expressing delighted surprise, and Hari saw that they had stopped at the edge of a black lake that gleamed like obsidian under the starry night sky. Beyond the lake, the castle of Hogwarts stood on a mountain, with sparkling windows and jagged, twisting edges of turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" called Hagrid over the sea of students, as he pointed to a fleet of small boats floating near the shore. Hari looked around. Hermione, Neville and Ron were with her, and Draco seemed to have disappeared, probably gone to join Crabbe and Goyle.

The four of them shared a boat, and when everyone had gotten in, Hagrid (taking a boat by himself) led the fleet across the lake. The boats seem to glide across the glassy waters by itself, another sign of magic. Hari leaned over the edge of the boat, wondering if there was anything living in the lake.

_There's a giant squid, a colony of merpeople and quite a number of grindylows,_ Riddle supplied. Hari froze.

_Merpeople? And what are grindylows?_

_Most children would have focused on the giant squid first, you know._

_I've seen giant Slugs, giant Toads, giant Snakes, giant Clams and other gigantic creatures, not to mention the bijuu,_ Hari replied dryly.

_How could I forget,_ Riddle muttered sarcastically._ Well, some merpeople are similar to those depicted in Muggle myths and fairytales. Others are less beautiful and most are vicious beings. Otherwise, they're exactly what they sound like-part fish, part human. Grindylows are little water demons._

An image appeared in her mind, featuring a sickly green creature with horns on its head and eyes which were off-white, the color of yellowing cream, long spindly fingers and a sharp-toothed grin. The image was soon replaced by her memory of Kisame, and she wondered if he could be considered a merperson.

"Hogwarts," Hermione breathed. Hari looked up and saw the castle looming over them on a cliff. She could feel the hum of magic like music singing through her veins, and could see the strange glimmering air that surrounded the place like a bubble of faint swirling colors. It was beautiful and so wonderfully enchanting.

"Heads down!" Hagrid suddenly yelled, and everyone ducked as the boats slipped through a curtain of hanging ivy, and into a long and dark winding tunnel that led them to an underground harbour.

Hagrid brought them to a passageway in the rock after they had all climbed out of the boats onto a rocky shore, the warm yellow light of his lamp guiding them through the dark. Then they found themselves standing above ground, on damp grass under the glittering night sky, in the shadow of the huge castle before them.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and waited outside a pair of huge oaken double-doors, as Hagrid knocked on the front doors three times.

They had arrived at Hogwarts.

* * *

**That's all for now. You can expect the next chapter to be up in about... A month's time? Hopefully I can finish it sooner...**

**Anyway, feel free to leave your comments or questions on the story! If you spot any mistakes in any form, do let me know. Thanks.**

**To the (Guest) I live 2 comment: Hermione will remain Hari's good friend, just like in canon, though Hari's scope of friends will definitely be wider than in canon, and she will have attachments to friends from her former life. So they may not be as close as in canon? But then again, they're now both girls, which is a point in their favour since it give s them something in common. We'll see.**

**To the other guest who commented: I'm glad you liked the story. I wasn't sure how well having two extra voices/spirits/beings in her head would be received XD**

**And to all other guests, I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave a name or something so that it's easier to address you when replying your reviews. Otherwise it might get confusing ^^"**


	8. Hogwarts

**And... I'm back! Sorry for the wait ^^" Thanks guys, for all the support you've shown so far~! I really appreciate it XD **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**The plot's still a little slow going for now, but no worries. It'll speed up soon. **

**Disclaimer: Naruto and Harry Potter do not belong to me. Just borrowing 'em for some fun~**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing_

_cancelled words_**]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs **_person B's writing_ ]**

* * *

Chapter 8: Hogwarts

_"Together we will build and teach"_

_The four good friends decided._

_And never did they dream that they_

_Might some day be divided._

* * *

Professor McGonagall was the one who greeted them at the front door. She was a tall witch with grey-streaked black hair tied into a tight bun, a stern face and wore emerald-green robes, the same color as the ink used for the Hogwarts letter, the same color as the icing on the birthday cake Hagrid gave her, the same color as Hari's eyes (though perhaps her eyes were a brighter shade of emerald—the color of emeralds held against the sunlight), which were the same color as the Killing Curse. Hari also noticed that the Professor's eye color was teal green.

It was a lot of green, Hari mused as the first years followed the stern Professor across the entrance hall and into an empty room. The inside of the castle fitted Hari's expectations from the dark and high ceiling (that could not be seen) to the torch-lit stone walls down to the flagstone floor.

Hari half-listened to the speech, half-distracted by the green-robed witch. She was trying to imagine her standing in Privet Drive with a tall white-bearded wizard and a hairy giant, but somehow, she couldn't imagine it. Privet Drive was so normal, neat and orderly, that Hari couldn't visualise three wizarding folk standing there with a baby wrapped in blankets. Unless they were wearing Muggle clothing... Now there's a thought.

"How do they Sort us into houses?" someone asked. Professor McGonagall's speech was over and she had left the room.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking," Ron replied. Hermione began reciting everything she remembered from the textbooks she read.

Hari snorted and wondered if she should mention that a magical talking hat was going to Sort them.

Just then, pearly-white translucent beings floated into the room, making some students jump and gasp. Hari stared, having never seen ghosts before.

_Ghosts are spirits that haven't moved on, right?_ she said to Riddle. _So why don't you look like that? You know, transparent-y and colorless._

Riddle didn't answer her question, and merely responded with sullen silence. Hari wondered if it was a sore topic.

The ghosts were arguing amongst themselves and didn't notice the students at first. When they did, they were somewhat surprised, as if time passed differently for them and they didn't realise it was time for the first years to be Sorted until then.

Professor McGonagall returned soon after, and led them out of the room, back across the entrance hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

* * *

It was magnificent and absolutely magical. The Hall was lit with thousands of floating candles, above four long tables where the other students were seated, golden plates and cups glittering before them. Behind the students were the ghosts from earlier, misty silver in the candlelight. The ceiling of the Great Hall was enchanted to look like the night sky outside, sparkling with stars.

The first years were led to the front of the Hall where the teachers sat behind a long table. There, they stood in a line, facing the rest of the students. Hari shifted excitedly beside Ron, who looked rather nervous, his freckles standing out on his face which was rapidly turning pale.

A wooden stool was placed in front of the first years, and on the stool was a black pointed wizard's hat that looked quite old and worn. There was a hushed silence as everyone stared at the hat. And then the hat twitched, and came to life, a dark fold—or perhaps a rip—near the brim of the hat opened like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

It was a song about the Sorting, and the hall burst into applause when it was done. The hat tipped its pointed end and 'bowed' to each of the four house tables.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron said to Hari in a loud whisper. "I'll kill Fred. He was going on about wrestling a troll."

_As if the school would let first years anywhere near a troll,_ Riddle commented. _The parents will have a fit._

"I wonder how you'd sort anyone with a troll," Hari said. "I suppose Gryffindors will charge at the troll head-first, and Ravenclaws might know all the different ways to actually deal with the troll..."

"And Slytherins will run for their lives, the slimy cowards," chuckled Ron.

"Ron! That's not nice," Hermione chided, just as Professor McGonagall held out a long roll of parchment and said, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be Sorted."

Then she called out, "Abbot, Hannah!"

The girl named Hannah Abott went forward and put on the hat which was so big it fell over her eyes. Then the hat opened its 'mouth' and yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuffs cheered and clapped as Hannah joined them at their table. The lining of her plain black robes changed color from black to yellow, and her black tie now had yellow stripes like a bee.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF" the hat yelled again, and Susan went to join Hannah at the Hufflepuff table, parts of her school robes changing color to match.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

And Terry went to join the Ravenclaws, which were seated at the table beside the Hufflepuffs. His black tie became striped with blue and white, while the lining of his robes turned blue.

The list continued, and Lavender Brown became the first new Gryffindor. The table on the other side of Ravenclaw erupted into cheers and applause. Her tie turned red and gold, and the lining of her robes changed from black to red.

After that, girl named Millicent Bulstrode became the first to join Slytherin. Her tie turned green and silver, and the lining of her robes became green. The Slytherin table, situated on the other side of Hufflepuff (and two tables—the furthest—away from Gryffindor) applauded quietly. It was a rather subdue reaction compared to the other tables.

Hermione was the second to join Ravenclaw, taking a rather long time with the hat before she did so, and she proudly went to join the Ravenclaws. Hari was glad to see that she was pleased with the Hat's choice though she wondered why the Hat took so long with her.

Daphne Greengrass, the blonde girl that Hari met on the train, was Sorted into Slytherin, though she did sit on the stool with the hat on her head for quite some time before she was Sorted, and the table once more began had a lot of polite clapping, but there was no cheering.

Neville was also Sorted into Gryffindor (he too, took a long time to get Sorted), and Hari was pleased to see that he had brightened up considerably since the time he lost his toad. She hoped he wouldn't lose it again. And Gryffindor was starting to look even more appealing, with the Weasley twins, and Neville.

Draco joined the Slytherins, as expected, and the applause was a little louder and warmer than before, but still had that quiet and polite feel. As Draco sat between Crabbe and Goyle, a smug smile on his face, Hari couldn't help but ask Riddle, _Is there a rule in Slytherin that says "Showing warmth, enthusiasm and spirit is strictly forbidden"?_

_No... It is only natural for us to display our approval and acceptance with the polite applause that is befitting of our house, not rowdy and loud noises like the hooligans that make up_—

_Okay, okay. I get it. Cold as snakes, right._

_That's not what I said. We do show more... Enthusiasm... On some occassions. _

_Like?_

_... Quidditch season. Or when we win the House Cup. _

_So you Slytherins think welcoming your new housemates not important enough for your rare displays of joy and passion?_

_They're Slytherins. They should understand the need to practice restraint. And if they don't, they'll learn from the examples set by the upper years. _

_This is suppose to make me want to join Slytherin?_

_I'm sure you can afford to learn how to behave properly in Slytherin. And the house will be great for your ambitions. Didn't you used to want to be... What's that called? Something kah-geh? The president of your ninja country? _

_I_—

"Potter, Harriet!"

Hari stepped forward and the entire Hall began to buzz with thousands of whispering chatter. Hari could hear some of the things the other students were saying.

"Potter, did she say?"

"_The_ Harriet Potter?"

Hari ignored the rest of the Hall, though she couldn't help a small smile as students began to shift in their seats, trying to get a good look at her. She picked up the hat and put it on. Then her vision of the Hall was blocked by the dark inside of the hat. The excited chatter of the students reduced to a soft murmur as the brim of the hat fell over her ears.

_Hmm... What do we have here?_ a soft deep voice echoed in her mind. _Difficult. Very difficult. _

_Sort her into Slytherin,_ Riddle ordered automatically.

**_I don't think it's your choice, _****Tom-ya****_, _**Kurama commented.

_Tom Riddle? You've been Sorted before, it's not your turn now, _the hat said. _And who's this?_

_Just another tenant in my head, _Hari said. _Can we get on with my Sorting?_

_Very well, you're a strange one. Plenty of courage, but not a bad mind too, when you make the effort. But no, I suppose not Ravenclaw, _said the hat obligingly. _Now there's a nice thirst to prove yourself... Slytherin could help you with that._

Hari gave the hat a mental equivalent of a shrug. _Not Gryffindor?_

_Oh, you'll do well in Gryffindor. Brave at heart, with lots of daring and nerve. Very bold, yes, and protective of your friends. And Hufflepuff will suit you well too, friendly and loyal as you are, with your determination and willingness to work for what you want, _the hat commented. _But Slytherin will be the best to guide you to greatness, you know. And great things you're certain to do. _

_Greatness, Hari. The hat told me the same thing too, except that it didn't consider Gryffindor nor Huffllepuff for me, _Riddle said.

**_Oh of course she'll be great. Change follows the kit like moths to a flame. I've seen it happen before. But are you sure you want the one who can vanquish you to become great? You did try to kill her when she was only one. And she might not join her as you wish._**

_Please be quiet, the both of you, _Hari grumbled. _Hat, between courage, ambition, and loyalty, which do you think suits me better? You are supposed to Sort me after all._

_I think you will come to wear all three together. They are a good combination and will bring you higher and further than any of them alone, _the hat replied. _Perhaps I should just put you into Hufflepuff. Or Ravenclaw. You can be quite intelligent when you try._

_Eh… Not that Hufflepuff is a bad house; I don't have anything against them, but… hard work… you should know I don't enjoy studying hard. And none of my friends are there._

_I think you've gotten it wrong there, _the Hat commented. _Hufflepuffs work diligently for anything, not just their studies. And you're one to go to unimaginable lengths just to get what you want, are you not? Unafraid to toil, to continuously improve oneself, for the sake of faith, friendship and goodness, even though you tire of it. _

And Hari was reminded of all Naruko had done in her attempts to persuade Tsunade into returning to the village, her attempts to bring Sasuke back and save him, her attempts to protect those she cared for…

_Now Ravenclaw is the house for the intelligent and those who are in pursuit of greater knowledge. Your idea of studying hard would fit Ravenclaw better. I dismissed Ravenclaw at first, but now that I think about it, you have the intelligence and wit that Ravenclaws treasure. You can be rather smart when you try. Perhaps Ravenclaw would push you to improve your studies…_

An image suddenly flashed through Hari's mind, of rows and columns and stacks of books and words and numbers. And she heard Hermione's voice echo in her head, rattling off facts… She shuddered.

_Eh… But... They seem to enjoy studying a little too much, _Hari told the Hat.

_Actually, Ravenclaw may be better, if you want to remain friends with the Malfoy boy _and_ your Gryffindor friends, better than Gryffindor at least. It would be good for your studies, and it might be quite… disastrous if the Girl-Who-Lived ended up in Slytherin. It'll only attract more of Dumbledore's attention and attempts at control over you, which will not be good for us, _Riddle admitted grudgingly. _Hufflepuff is another alternative but it is a rather… weak house. _

Well, Hari knew he did have a point, considering the inter-House rivalry (which was just ridiculous) but she felt she'd do better being Draco's rival as a Gryffindor than a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. And if she got into Slytherin, then she was damn well going to be the first loud, friendly and obnoxious snake there was, and befriend anyone regardless of House or blood purity. Unsurprisingly, Riddle didn't like the idea of that.

_But Ravenclaw sounds scary and not at all fun! _Hari protested.

_Relax, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Did you not consider being a Slytherin that acts like a Gryffindor earlier? You can always introduce a better work and play balance to them, _added the hat._ In fact, you know you'll have no problem making more friends and you'll be good influences for one another. Now_—

_Please, I think I'd rather be a Gryffindor or Slytherin. Or even a Hufflepuff! If you need to choosebetweenthem, I'dsayGryffindor. I'mbraveandall,right?Idon'tthink_—

_No, I've decided. Ravenclaw would be good. You're smart in many ways. The house needs someone like you to liven them up and you'll do well with them influencing you to study harder. Yes. Better be_—

_Study hard? Wait! Nononon-_

_RAVENCLAW!_

_._

_._

_._

_Just kidding._

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

_But really, your determination and resourcefulness could have gotten you into Slytherin as well. And you can be shrewd enough too. Not to mention brave._

* * *

Hari felt like she could melt into a puddle of relief as the terrifying image of mountains of books disappeared, and felt somewhat annoyed with the hat. Riddle sighed, just as the Hufflepuffs seemed to cheer even louder than before.

Thunderous applause greeted her as she took off the hat and made her way to the Hufflepuff table, robes changing to match the uniforms of the rest of the house. Hari glanced at the Slytherin table before joining her new house, and saw Draco staring at her, looking slightly bemused. She gave him a sheepish grin before turning away.

"Hello, welcome to Hufflepuff," a boy sitting to Hari's right greeted. He had light brown hair. "I'm Gabriel Truman, fifth-year prefect."

Hari smiled in response. "Thanks."

"What was wrong?" asked Gabriel. "You looked annoyed earlier."

"The hat tricked me," Hari groaned, as she looked back towards the hat and the stool and the High Table behind it.

"Tricked you?" the prefect sounded skeptical. But Hari's attention had been diverted by the row of Hogwarts staff sitting at the High Table. Hagrid was the nearest to them, and Dumbledore was seated in the middle, looking very much like that old wizard figurine of Dudley's, on a throne-like golden chair. She recognised two other staff members-nervous Professor Quirrel, wearing his strange purple turban, and a sallow-faced Professor with shoulder-length black hair and a hooked nose. He looked like the person she saw when she caught a glimpse Riddle's memories regarding her mother's death.

_Severus Snape,_ sneered Riddle. He sounded like he had just seen another disloyal Death Eater, and when Hari observed the Professor, she thought he did look like he could be a Dark Wizard. But Hari knew better than to judge anyone too quickly, regardless of appearance and outward behavior. (Points to Professor Snape: Riddle doesn't like him +1, He had requested Riddle not to kill her mother +2)

_How is it that my dislike for a person has become an indicator for you to trust them?! _Riddle demanded, reading my surface thoughts more easily than Kurama could. _And besides, he was the one who_—

The rest of his words were drowned out by the loud cheer from the all around Hari after "Weasley, Ronald!" and "GRYFFINDOR!"

Hari joined in the cheering. After Professor McGonagall rolled up the list of names and took away the Sorting hat and the stool (after a boy named Blaise Zabini was sorted into Slytherin), Dumbledore stood up and opened his arms wide in a welcoming gesture, looking very happy, as if their presence in the Hall was the best thing they could give him.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."

And he sat back down while everyone clapped and cheered. Hari stared at the old wizard. First, the burning closet. Then the November night treatment of the Girl-Who-Lived. Now this.

"Is he... A bit... Mad?" Hari asked no one in particular. The boy sitting across her was the one who replied light-heartedly, "A little. But he's a genius."

Then the boy stretched out a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Harriet—Can I call you Harriet?—I'm Cedric. Cedric Diggory. Third-year."

Hari shook his hand. "Pleased to meet yiou too, Cedric. Ah... I prefer Hari, actually."

"Hari then," Cedric agreed amiably. Then they helped themselves to the food. The dishes before them had filled themselves with food. And not just any food, but a delicious banquet with a wide variety of rich food: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, pudding, peas, carrots, gravy...

While eating, Hari looked around the Great Hall, and paused to see how each of her friends were doing. At the Gryffindor table, Neville and Ron were sitting with some other Gryffindor boys, their attention on the Gryffindor ghost who looked rather irritable. Riddle had briefly mentioned this nearly-headless ghost before.

The ghost suddenly pulled his left ear, causing his head to swing off his neck and onto his left shoulder. It didn't come clean off, however. It was like someone had tried to behead him but failed just as he was about to finish. Ron jumped at his sudden demonstration while Neville gasped. Hari was only a little bit disturbed-she had seen more disturbing things as a kunoichi and _those_ had been with live people, not ghosts.

Then Hari looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a ghost sitting beside Draco. The ghost had a gaunt face, blank staring eyes and robes stained with ghost blood. Draco looked so uncomfortable with his seat beside the ghost that Hari couldn't help the amused grin that spread across her face. He seemed to be desperately avoiding looking at the ghost, a bit like how Neville had acted earlier.

Draco chose that moment to look up from his food. His saw Hari looking and scowled at her grin. She gave him an even sunnier smile, while wondering if she could somehow get the Slytherin ghost to team up with her sometime to prank Draco.

When everyone had had their fill, the remnants of the food disappeared, leaving sparkling plates behind. Then the desserts appeared, ranging from ice creams of a variety of flavors, apple pies and treacle tarts to chocolate éclairs, doughnuts, jelly and more pudding. Hari soon found that her second favorite food was now treacle tart.

Meanwhile, the Hufflepuffs around her had moved on to breaking ice. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot were seated nearby and they leaned over to greet Hari. Hari found that the Hufflepuffs were all generally friendly people, and quite pleasant company. It was warm there, she found, even though she had just joined them. It was a comfortable warmth that she loved soaking in, the wonderful welcoming presence of friends. Hari wondered if she'd ever bring herself to prank such nice people, then decided that they'd probably take any mild harmless prank with good-natured humor. Speaking of pranking…

Hari looked over at the Gryffindor table again, eyes searching for the two red heads of the twins. She found them laughing and speaking in hushed voices, which was rather suspicious. Hari suddenly remembered the challenge they had issued her and hoped to see a prank of theirs so she'd know what she was up against.

Then Hari glanced up at the High Table where the teachers were seated. Most of them were in conversation of some sort. Professor Snape was talking to Professor Quirrel, and her thoughts went to the funny feeling she got from Professor Quirrel. Just then, Professor Snape looked past the Defense teacher and their eyes met.

Sharp pain seared through her mind, starting from her lightning-bolt scar and ending in a blossom of headache. Hari winced, suddenly glad for her high tolerance for pain.

_Tori-ue?_ Hari questioned uncertainly. She got no reply, only a flash of irritation or anger, before the pain disappeared and in its sudden absence, she felt a strange blankness. It was almost as if Riddle had shut himself in some other room in her mind, leaving her standing in the empty room that he had once occupied.

Hari focused her attention back to the High Table. Professor Snape had gone back to his conversation with Professor Quirrel, but now that Riddle seem to have retreated to some corner at the back of her mind, she found that her mind was free to replay what had just happened and analyse it without extra thoughts or emotions getting in the way.

There was something else besides the pain when Hari replayed what had happened. It wasn't Killer Intent, but a much much milder form of it. An intense feeling of dislike, bordering on hatred.

"Who's the Professor talking to Professor Quirrel?" Hari asked Cedric. She was confused. What did she do to earn such dislike from someone she hadn't even met?

"Oh, that's Professor Snape. He's the Potions Master. Really strict, but he's good at what he does. I heard he's been wanting the DADA position for years," Cedric replied and chuckled. "I pity Quirrel. He looks so nervous. It's no wonder, really. Professor Snape can be quite intimidating."

Hari glanced at the High Table again. Professor Snape was ignoring everyone now, while Professor Quirrel was drinking from his goblet. He saw Hari looking over and gave her a nervous smile.

Pain shot through her scar for a second time. This time, it wasn't as bad as the previous one. It was more like a sharp pinch or a vicious ant-bite-irritating but not too painful. Hari was feeling rather bemused now.

_Hebi-sama? Tori-ue?_ Hari called out. When there was no answer, Kurama, who had been silent, yelled, **_Oi, Tomari!_**

_That second one wasn't me,_ Riddle said irritably.

_Well what was the first one about? And why does Snape seem to hate me?_

_Oh. So you decide to pay attention to me now? I'm not a book that you can open as and when you like for information!_

Hari was startled. _Uh... What? Kurama?_

**_I think Lord Brat is just sulky about you ignoring him earlier,_** Kurama replied dismissively, as if Riddle's behavior was of no consequence to him.

"... The forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils..." Dumbledore's words came floating through Hari's mind, her ears picking up on interesting pieces of information when on autopilot. She switched her attention to the Headmaster who was issuing some notices and warnings. The next words she heard were, "... This year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

A part of Hari was eager to check out the third-floor corridor, and find out what could lead to a painful death, while another part of Hari told her that this was a wise old wizard talking and his warnings should be taken seriously.

**_I think there's a human saying... Curiosity kills the cat? It sounds appropriate here,_** Kurama commented.

_Satisfaction brought it back. Anyway, it's not like you'll let me die, _Hari said confidently. _And between my kunoichi training and your tailed-beast abilities... Well, cats supposedly have nine lives, don't they?_

**_That's not an excuse to push your luck, _**Kurama said, but there was no hint of disapproval in his neutral matter-of-fact tone.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore said jovially, though the other teachers didn't seem as pleased. Their smiles were now strained.

Then he flicked his wand and a long golden ribbon flew out of the tip, and began to form words in the air. Dumbledore instructed everyone to pick their favorite tune and the school burst into song.

It was a funny song that wasn't very poetic nor dignified, but Hari liked it. She sang it to the first tune that came to her mind-the typical tune of the birthday song-and when she was done, she had to wait with the rest of the school for the Weasley twins to finish their slow funeral march version. And Hari had to admit, she was liking them more and more by the second.

When the school song was over, Dumbledore dismissed them, and the Hufflepuffs followed followed Gabriel out of the Great Hall, through some hallways and down a flight of stairs leading to the basement. They soon found themselves along a dimly lit corridor along which some paintings were hung. There was a stack of barrels at the end of the corridor, near a still life painting of a bowl of fruit. There didn't seem to be any entrance of any sort, but then Hari recalled Diagon Alley's entrance and Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters' barrier.

Sure enough, the prefect led them to the dead end of the corridor and stopped there. He began tapping the barrels with his wand while explaining his actions. "No password is needed for the Hufflepuff Basement, but do remember to tap the right barrels in the correct rhythm—barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff. You don't want to be doused in vinegar if you get it wrong."

When Gabriel finished the tapping, the lid of the barrel he tapped swung open, revealing a narrow passageway. When the prefect gestured to them to follow him and crawled through the barrel-passageway, everyone followed suit. Somehow, the upper-years seem to be able to accomplish this in a rather graceful and dignified manner, probably from loads of practice and experience. The first years, however, found themselves scrambling awkwardly on all fours and knocking heads on too-low ceilings.

(Hari was quite glad at the moment for her previous experience as a kunoichi as well as the Freak Girl-Who-Lived-In-The-Cupboard-Under-The-Stairs. It made the crawling a lot easier. She was also quite glad that Riddle was sulking and giving her the silent treatment. She was quite sure that he would be making all sorts of unnecessary comments about the Hufflepuff entrance otherwise.)

The narrow passageway was a short one and soon expanded into a proper corridor, followed by a short flight of steps. There was a large perfectly circular yellow door at the foot of the steps, with a honey-golden doorknob. Gabriel swung the door open, and led them into the common room.

* * *

The Hufflepuff common room was round and low-ceiling-ed, with a warm and cosy atmosphere. There were plenty of yellow hangings, yellow and black overstuffed sofas and chairs, and anything made of metal was almost always burnished copper. Though the common room was underground, the place had a sunny feel regardless, with many circular windows providing magical distant views of grass rippling in the wind, with dandelions bobbing in the breeze.

The walls of the basement were lined with earth-colored bricks and smooth wooden beams supported the place. The floor was also wooden. Interesting plants sat in pots here and there, some hanging from the ceiling, some placed by the windowsills, and Hari thought she saw a plant sway and wriggle to some unheard music. There was also a portrait of Helga Hufflepuff above the fireplace, which had a large mantelpiece, decorated with carvings of badgers and made of honey-colored wood. All in all, Hari loved the place.

Gabriel Truman got them to sit around the common room for a short welcome speech, before dismissing them to bed. There were two perfectly circular doors leading to the dormitories, one to the boys' and the other to the girls'. When Hari, Susan, Hannah and a Hufflepuff girl named Megan Jones opened the door leading to the girl's dormitories, they found themselves in a round tunnel which then branched off into seven more tunnels, each tunnel leading to the dormitory room of one year's batch of Hufflepuff girls. And the room they were getting would remain their room for the rest of their Hogwarts life.

The 1991 batch checked the polished wooden signs at each tunnel and found their dormitory room at the end of the second tunnel from the right. It had a nice round wooden door painted green like the color of springtime leaves, and a burnished copper doorknob that was shaped like an acorn. The dormitory room itself was also somewhat circular, and had four four-poster beds with beautiful deep sunflower yellow hangings that seemed golden under the light of the warm copper lamps situated around the room. The beds were covered with green and brown patchwork quilts and copper bed-warmers hung on the walls beside the beds.

Hari picked a bed at random, when the other girls didn't seem to mind which bed they got, hauled her trunk over and began unpacking, while chatting with her new roommates. The three other girls were very nice and friendly.

Hannah was an average-looking girl with blonde hair tied in pigtails and soft brown eyes. She seemed a little shy and blushed easily, but would happily engage in small talk and gain confidence as the conversation progresses.

Susan was somewhat cute, with long red hair plaited down her back. She seemed rather smart and a little talkative, but she wasn't bossy like Hermione. (Hari personally thought that Hannah could do with some good influence from Susan in terms of self-confidence and knowledge... But perhaps it was still too early to make any assumptions about their characters.)

Last but not least was Megan, who had long wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. She was quieter than Hannah and Susan, not in the shy way, but more of a observing-and-thinking-a-lot-before-I-speak sort of way. (Kurama pointed out that Hari should learn from her and said something about empty barrels and lack of wisdom and continued on about still waters running deep but Hari chose to ignore the demon fox's not-so-subtle insults.)

That night, Hari had the strangest dream. She couldn't remember what it was when she woke up the next day, but whatever it had been had Kurama and Riddle in fits of chuckling whenever she asked them about it. In the end, Hari decided that if it had Riddle in any form of merriment, it had to be pretty bad (and probably embarrassing) and she didn't really want to find out what it was.

(At least he wasn't sulking anymore, which was surely a good thing, because sulky Dark Lords couldn't possibly bode well for anyone.)

* * *

**That's all for now~ I hope none of you guys will mind her Sorting too much. I looked up Hufflepuffs on Harry Potter Wiki and decided (with some well-given advice from a reviewer**—**you know who you are XD) to place her there, especially after realising the possibilities that have arisen from having her there, and the fact that there are few Hufflepuff Harrys around.**

**So please review, and feel free to leave comments, constructive criticism, or any questions you might have! I'll try my best to answer any questions that will not spoiler too much XD**

**Oh, and I'd like to know which character you like me writing (even though I focus a lot more on Hari, naturally) or any opinions you have on any of the characters I've written so far. Do let me know if you've spotted any English or factual mistakes as well~**

**Next chapter will be uploaded in about another month's time (at most two months time, but let's hope I won't take that long, eh?). So, to all who follow the lunar calendar, have a Happy (early) Lunar New Year~! **

_**Now, addressing (Guest) reviews...**_

**To Mika: Thanks for the review! Haha maybe she can become the next Luna Lovegood~ Nah. Just kidding. Many have reviewed about Daphne and Ino... Well, what do you think? XD**

**To I live 2 comment: Yes, I quite like Hermione. She can be a bit annoying at first, but then, so can anyone (gestures in Draco's and Ron's direction). It's just a matter of getting to know them. And just like in the books, they will become friends. I mean, it's Naruko we're talking about here. What do you mean by 'diversified the book' though? Thanks for your support in any case~ I'm quite busy with my job but rest assured, I will find time to write this. I'm writing this story for myself just as much as I am for you guys after all.**

**To Toolazytologin: I thank you for your compliments~ But really, you shouldn't inflate my ego too much XD I'm glad you liked the story and the characters. Draco _should_ be sociable, since he _should_ have been trained to gain allies and form the necessary connections for future success. Any Slytherin should. (But look at Crabbe and Goyle, I think they're a shame to the Slytherin house) I guess what you mean is being sociable to those he deem lower-class compared to himself? I hope it wasn't too OOC... ^^"**


	9. Lessons

**Alright, so I'm back! After... two months? Heh ^^" Sorry about that, but I was quite busy with university applications and all. **

**S****o, I ended up writing some 8k+ words for Chapter Nine, and for some reason, could not upload the entire thing on , so I've split up the chapter. Here's Chapter Nine, Part One, and Part Two will be uploaded shortly (by Monday).**

**Anyhow... I'm amazed by the number of C2s (10, ten, seriously?), follows and favourites my story is getting. Thanks guys!**

**Hope you guys'll enjoy this part chapter even though it's sort of a filler... You know, a glimpse at her first few days at Hogwarts...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Potterverse nor the Narutoverse. (I have borrowed some lines from the books and canon-verse, notably, Severus Snape's wonderful speech at the start of his Potions lesson here.)**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing/emphasised words_

_cancelled words_ (because doesn't seem to allow for strikethrough effects) **]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs **_person B's writing_ ]**

* * *

Chapter Nine, Part One: Lessons

_Hogwarts, Hogwarts,_

_Hoggy Warty Hogwarts_

_Teach us something, please..._

* * *

The next few days passed by in a whirl of color and excitement. Hari easily ignored the whispers, the finger pointing and the stares, being used to it from her previous life. But the rest of the school couldn't be ignored… It was all very fascinating, and the insides of Hogwarts were just as Riddle had briefly described it the one time she asked: Staircases that moved, trick stairs, fake doors, walking coats of armor, talking and moving portraits, hidden passageways behind sliding panels and tapestries… But they did get somewhat annoying when Hari was trying to get to class on time.

The 'cliques' in Hufflepuff was never fixed, and was constantly changing. Often, Hannah would be seen with Ernest Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley (two Hufflepuff boys in their batch), and sometimes, Susan would join them. But Susan would sometimes also hang out with Hari and Megan, or Seamus Finnigan, a Gryffindor boy with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. Hari would also join Hannah's group, while Justin would occasionally hang out with Wayne Hopkins, another Hufflepuff boy in their batch. Hari found herself with Wayne on some occasions, and sometimes along with Megan, both of whom were the quiet sort. This happened whenever they were walking to the classroom of any lesson that was not shared with another House.

But most of the time, Hari would be in the company of one Ravenclaw by the name of Hermione Granger and a Gryffindor boy called Ronald Weasley. She'd invited Neville to join them before, but the shy boy rarely did. The only constant was Zacharias Smith, who was almost always alone. But Hari didn't like him much anyway. She did talk to him occasionally, but it was usually school-work-related. Riddle helped with the fake pleasant mask that was good for dealing with unpleasant people.

In any case, Hari was usually late for class for the first few days, because her early mornings were spent with Hermione, figuring out how to get Ron out of the Gryffindor Tower when he overslept. Entrance to the Ravenclaw common room was easy enough when she had a genius living in her head, but the Gryffindor common room entrance needed a password. Without it, Hermione and Hari had to linger outside, where a portrait of a fat woman wearing a pink dress guarded the entrance, until someone smuggled them in, namely Neville. But this worked only if he let them in from the inside, because he was horrible at remembering passwords.

Hari was quite glad that she had Riddle in her head (when he was being cooperative), because it meant that she knew the shortcuts that he had discovered back when he was still in school. Getting lost in Hogwarts was a horrible thing, but it seemed to happen to nearly every new Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. The Ravenclaws, like Hermione, had all memorized the routes to their classes on the first day.

By Wednesday, Hari had Hermione memorizing the shortcuts too, and the both of them decided that a map of the school should be drawn up as soon as possible, since there didn't seem to be any around. Though they only shared a few classes, they had begun having meals together (usually at the Hufflepuff table), except for dinner, and Hari would walk to class with Ron every morning, as it was Herbology was first period from Monday to Wednesday.

The ghosts helped too—the Grey Lady, when one could find her, which wasn't often; the Fat Friar, who was always too happy to help; Nearly Headless Nick, who occasionally warned them of Peeves. Peeves was a poltergeist, and the only 'ghost' (because apparently poltergeists weren't really ghosts but spirits of chaos or something like that, according to Riddle) that Riddle had ever cared to mention.

The poltergeist would lock students in classrooms, pelt them with sticks and fruits and anything he could get his hands on, chant silly songs so loudly it was a wonder no one went deaf… He was also how Hari was first introduced to dungbombs. Hari had never been more thankful for her wand, which meant that she could now vanish approaching missives with ease. And with her kunoichi reflexes, she was almost never hit by one again. Riddle taught her a charm to repel objects anyway.

Then, there was the caretaker, Argus Filch and his cat, Mrs Norris (which made Hari wonder if there was a Mr Norris). The both of them were quite similar: scrawny and sullen with large bulbous eyes like lamps, prowling in the corridors, ready to catch unlucky students who offended him (and it was very easy to offend him even without breaking any rules). It seemed that no one liked them, just as they liked no one but themselves.

But the lessons were amazing (aside from the homework). Astronomy (every Tuesday at midnight) was spent looking at stars and planets in the beautiful night sky, while Herbology (three times a week, also with Gryffindor) was spent in the greenhouses with all sorts of strange plants and fungi (some of which could be found in the Hufflepuff common room), and were taught by Professor Sprout, Hari's Head of House, a plump and kind witch (with an apt last name). Hari found that Hufflepuffs often ended up helping the Gryffindors as they had more experience with the subject. Charms was taught by Professor Flitwick, a very small wizard (Hari wondered if he was half-goblin) who introduced them to wand movements and spell pronunciations. Apparently charms could not be casted well without the correct waving of the wand and the precise pronunciation of the spell.

Riddle explained that this was because witches and wizards these days were restricted by what they learnt in school. With their minds closed to the true wonders of magic, they fail to realize that it is the intent, the will and the directing of magic from within them that was important—not incantations and wand-waving. After all, if wand movements and pronunciation was all that important, what about non-verbal magic? And what about foreign wizards and witches? Surely the Asians did not cast spells in Latin? Besides, accidental magic was a good example of wandless spells, albeit uncontrollable. Then again, many cases of accidental magic did not involve thinking about the spell itself, but rather emotions and desire or will.

* * *

History of Magic was predictably the most boring class. If Hari expected magical history to be more interesting than normal history, she was proven wrong on the very first lesson, when she fell asleep in class and woke up feeling like she ought to start cutting classes for pranks again. The Professor was an old ghost who had died one day and simply woke up as a ghost and continued teaching as if he hadn't died. Riddle commented that he certainly didn't teach any different, dead or alive, and wondered why he hadn't been sacked yet for his horrible teaching.

Hari loved Transfiguration. Taught by the strict Professor McGonagall (whom, according to Riddle, was biased towards Gryffindors and against Slytherin, not that it affected her any, since she was neither) it was easily one of the lessons Hari enjoyed most. Professor McGonagall herself was an animagus, someone who could transform into an animal and back to human again at free will. Hari thought the ability was really cool and was determined to learn it as soon as possible, despite the Professor telling them that they wouldn't be transfiguring furniture into animals, let alone animagus transformation, for a long time.

After an introduction to transfiguration, a warning on the dangers of the subject, and a lot of complicated notes that Hari didn't quite see the point of, the students were given a matchstick and told to turn it into a needle. Due to Hari's ability at Henge, and what little wandless transfiguration that Riddle had taught her prior to attending Hogwarts, she found the task rather easy. That was not to say that she turned the matchstick into a needle with a wave of her wand the first try. But she did manage to get a needle by the end of the lesson, as well as ten points for Hufflepuff and a rare smile from Professor McGonagall

Well, to be more precise, she got ten needles instead of one. It was a result of repeated tries to turn the matchstick into a needle, something that seemed easier without the wand (much to Riddle's incredulous amusement), and then overpowering the wand with her magic. Any matchstick lying within a meter's radius was turned into needle. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard Kurama muttering something about lack of chakra control. Hari had to sheepishly admit that while her chakra control had been refined through the years, she tended to lose it when frustrated or overwhelmed (as can be seen when she summoned Gamabunta for the first time).

Thursday morning came with double Potions with the Ravenclaws, which would also be Hari's first Potions lesson of the year. Potions sounded like something someone else might be good at, like say, Sakura, or Ino, or Tsunade, or that poisonous scorpion puppet guy (what was his name again?) But Riddle had introduced her to the subject (in theory), and Hari found that it required some measure of patience, focused attention, observation skills and following of instructions. Which meant that Potions wasn't really her thing, even though it did sound somewhat interesting and Riddle was quite adamant that she be competent in all her subjects.

When Ron found out that she was going to have Potions after breakfast, he began to complain about how lucky she was, because she didn't have to share the class with the Slytherins (made worse by having the Slytherin Head of House as the teacher). Hermione then chided the boy about his attitude towards Slytherins, went on about Inter-House relationships and subsequently turned it into a lecture. By the end of it, she was scolding him about his laziness and studying habits. All in all, a typical morning with eggs and sausages for breakfast (because Hari learned her lesson of having treacle tart for breakfast in front of Hermione).

Hermione and Ron squabbled to no end. They couldn't seem to stand each other, and somehow, Hari was always stuck as the peacemaker. And she personally thought that though Hermione could be overbearing at times, Ron was the source of all this trouble because he couldn't seem to get along with _anyone_. Or maybe they were just a bad combination, because the Ravenclaws didn't seem to enjoy Hermione's company very much either. Which meant that Hari would be sitting with Hermione during Potions, as they always did in any class that they shared. The Hufflepuffs didn't mind. They understood. And that was one of the many things Hari liked about them.

* * *

Potions was held in the dungeons, where the air was cooler (which was a good thing, thought Hari, or they'd start melting once their cauldrons were heated and smoking) and there was a generally creepy atmosphere, with jars of pickled animals floating in sickly yellow liquid, lined up on the shelves and walls of the classroom. Riddle assured Hari that even if the place reminded her of a great snake pedophile, Severus Snape was far from it (even if he was a 'Snake').

Class started with a roll call, as it had in Charms, and when Hari's name was read, the Professor paused to fix her with a look of disdain.

"Ah, yes," he said in a voice of velvet (something that Hari now associated with mock politeness, courtesy of experience with Riddle). "Harriet Potter... Our new _celebrity_."

A few Ravenclaws snorted while some Hufflepuffs shifted in their seats—the only sign of their mild displeasure. Hari suppressed a sigh, wondering, once again, why Professor Snape seemed to dislike her so much.

The roll call was finished, and Professor Snape surveyed the class with black eyes like two holes leading into a soulless abyss. (Black eyes that reminded Hari of Sasuke before he joined Team Seven.) Then he began his speech in a soft voice, for he, like Professor McGonagall, had the ability to make an entire class listen in silence with a mere glance. No raising of voices was needed.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The speech was altogether impressive, and both Hari and Riddle agreed it was quite well said (Riddle didn't think he'd ever heard Snape giving a speech before though), and Hari had been writing down the words until the effect was spoiled by his last statement. She stopped her quill right there. It was a pity, as she was sure Riddle could have finished that sentence with a lovely insult that would have better matched the rest of the speech.

"Potter!" Snape suddenly said, breaking the silence that had followed the speech, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hari, who had read half of their Potions textbook upon Riddle's insistence, didn't think it could be found in the half she had read. Riddle's _helpful _comment was, _I don't think that's in the first-year syllabus._

"I don't know, sir," Hari replied the Professor, not wanting to press Riddle for a proper answer. She still recalled his indignance at being treated as a book of answers. If the question wasn't in their current syllabus, then it shouldn't matter if she didn't know it anyway (though Hermione seemed to know the answer judging by her raised hand).

Snape evidently didn't think so, for he had begun sneering (and ignored Hermione).

"Fame clearly isn't everything...," he commented snidely. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

This time, flashes of images sped through her mind-books with pages flipping quickly, words that made little sense, a goat, bottles of poison, a potions cupboard... Hari couldn't decide which were her memories and which were Riddle's, but she now knew the answer. A bezoar could be used as an antidote to many (but not all) poisons, and could be found-

"In the stomach of a goat, sir," Hari said, and couldn't help but add, "If there are none in the potions cabinet."

When she saw that Snape had narrowed his eyes, she realised that he might not have wanted to hear the potions cabinet part. Cheek, Uncle Vernon would have called it, even though it was a factual truth.

_Or he could just be displeased by the fact that you could answer the question,_ Riddle commented. _Since he seemed to take pleasure at your failure at answering the previous question._

Hari thought it might be the combination of both, though the Professor seemed to be better at distinguishing cheek from honest words than Uncle Vernon, for he did not comment on it though he did glare and took two points from Hufflepuff… Which was very little.

"Then tell me, Potter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Professor Snape then asked, sounding even more dangerous than before.

Hari froze for a moment. There was a difference between monkshood and wolfsbane? Weren't they the same plant? Riddle told her so, didn't he? When he told her about a potion that could calm a werewolf?

_It's a trick question, idiot,_ Riddle said. Hari did feel like an idiot then.

"There is no difference besides the name, sir, as they are the same plant," Hari answered.

_If it makes you feel better, you weren't supposed to know that yet either,_ drawled Riddle.

"Looks like our _celebrity_ has at least opened her book before coming here," Snape said, still sneering. "For your information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful that it is known as the Draught of Living Death. The bezoar can serve as an antidote for most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they also go by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

All around Hari, people, mostly Hufflepuffs, began to rummage for quills and parchment. Most of the Ravenclaws were already writing down notes.

Later on, they were all put into pairs and Snape told them to make a simple potion for curing boils. All the instructions were in their textbook, though Snape left some notes on the blackboard. The potion seemed tedious but easy enough for Hari, and the lesson passed by uneventfully… As uneventful as it could get with Professor Snape as the teacher.

The Potions Professor seemed to take great delight in criticizing students' potions and hovering around the Hufflepuffs like a big black shadow of doom. Hannah nearly dropped her porcupine quills into her potion too early when he passed her table, and was only stopped in time by Megan, who was her partner. (Susan was partnered with Zacharias, Ernie with Justin, and Wayne with some Ravenclaw).

As Hermione and Hari walked to lunch, Hari turned her attention inwards, as she let her body go on autopilot, feet following Hermione to the Great Hall. Hermione was getting used to seeing Hari space out like that, and soon learnt to keep her comments to herself even if she found it rather strange and slightly creepy.

_(Because the quiet stare that Hari gives her when she asks, was even more unnerving, despite the amused quirk of the lips and her raised eyebrows that suggested an interesting secret kept hidden behind the mysterious smirk. Because eyes like Hari's should never be that green, that brilliant shade of green, the color of sunlit emeralds… And for some reason that Hermione couldn't fathom—and she hated not knowing, Ravenclaw as she was, it felt like the colour of death. But death should be white or black, or even red. Not green. Right?)_

Meanwhile, Hari had begun talking to Riddle.

_Professor Snape knew my mother, right?_

_He knew your parents, both of them, _Riddle replied.

_He was friends with my mother?_

_It would seem so._

_Then... He doesn't like my father?_

_It's a possibility. _

_... You knew him, didn't you?_

_Yes, and have skimmed through his mind on several occasions. But his enmity with your father is only implied from what I've gathered of him._

Hari started_. Wait. You can read minds?_

_The mind is not a book to be read. But yes, there is form of magic that deals with the mind. The mind arts include Legilimency and Occlumency. You needn't worry about either for now. _Which sounded like a Yamanaka thing.

_What? Why not? What if someone tries to look into my mind? Wouldn't they know about you? And Kurama?_

_I'm a master at both forms of mind arts. I have been Occluding your mind to that meddlesome old man ever since you've stepped into Hogwarts. So rest assured, you're safe from any accomplished Legilimens until I leave you. _

_You'll teach me then?_

_Perhaps. _

It was probably the best answer she could get out of Riddle, so she left it at that. At least she learnt a couple of things, namely, that mind-reading is possible with magic (and not limited to individuals with the kekkai genkai), that the Headmaster Dumbledore mind-reads students (she supposed it does give him the ability to run the school better if he knew his students well), and that Professor Snape knew her parents and probably hates her because of her father. She still didn't know why he disliked her father (she could come up with a few theories but she had no evidence to support any of them) but at least she now knew that his dislike for her has nothing to do with her herself (imagine if your teacher dislikes you because of your appearance or something).

_What if he doesn't like you because you're responsible for the defeat of his Dark Lord? _Riddle questioned. Hari thought about it.

_He's loyal to you?_

_He was a Death Eater. And he had yet to change sides when we last met. But his position as a teacher here does make one wonder..._

_I suppose we'll find out sooner or later, _Hari commented as they reached the Great Hall.

* * *

Ron was already seated at the Gryffindor table, so Hari and Hermione went to join him… Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Hari went to sit beside Ron and as Hari was Hermione's only friend so far, the Ravenclaw didn't have much choice but to follow.

"So, how was double Potions?" the red-head asked through mouthfuls of food. Hari admitted that his eating habits had left much to be desired (she herself used to slurp up her noodles, until she had an argument with Riddle about the politeness and manners of eating like that—she still insisted that slurping noodles was a sign of respect for the chef's cooking abilities, but allowed Riddle to teach her the English way of eating anyway), but she didn't really see why Hermione had to sit with Hari between them, and insisted on Hari sitting at least half an arm's-length away from the boy who didn't really seem to notice.

"Quite alright… He's rather snarky, but so long as you keep your head down and don't do anything stupid, you should be fine," Hari replied, and helped herself to some pasta.

"Well you're not a Gryffindor… I heard he hates us and takes points whenever he can," grumbled Ron. Hari snorted in a very un-ladylike manner.

"Yes, thank goodness. I bet he'll deduct points if I so much as breathe in his class if I were a Gryffindor. He seems to hate me quite a bit as it is. But it's just me."

"Well maybe if you showed him some respect, he wouldn't have picked on you," Hermione chided.

Ron looked confused. "What did you do?"

"It's not _really_ about respect. Did you hear the tone he used when he called my name?" Hari whined. "If I had been disrespectful, I would have been scowling and maybe even cheeky _on purpose_. Then I'd have lost Hufflepuff more than those two points."

"I thought he picked only on _Gryffindors_," Ron said, still bemused. "You must have done something? Unless he's more of a greasy dungeon bat than what Fred and George described."

"I was probably very nasty to him in my past life," replied Hari, thinking about James Potter. If he didn't like her father, her father _might_ have been nasty to him when they were schoolmates.

"Past lives don't exist, Hari. I once asked the Grey Lady and the other ghosts. When you die, you either pass on or linger as a spirit. You don't reincarnate or something. When you're dead, you're dead, ghost or not. I also looked up some books afterwards. It's a bit morbid but—"

Hari sighed as she interrupted the girl before she could steamroll on. "Hermione, I was just kidding."

Hermione stopped and blinked. "Oh. Well. Still. I don't think teachers are supposed to be so unkind to any student when they've only first met. They're professionals after all. There shouldn't be any favouritism or biasness. Hari, maybe you were just imagining his unpleasant way of calling out your name. You shouldn't have listened to Ron. Perhaps it was your first impression of him that made you subconsciously dislike him."

"Never mind," Hari finally said, dismissively. Hermione could get a little annoying when she went on like that, but it was bearable.

"But Hari, you—"

"I'll try my very best to ignore any imaginary hatred he seems to have towards me, and be the good, nice and sweet Hufflepuff I'm supposed to be, alright?"

Hari heard Ron snort beside her, but the both of them ignored him as Hermione looked a bit more mollified. They decided not to bring up the subject of Potions nor Professor Snape again that day.

* * *

**That's all for now. See you guys on Sunday/Monday~**

**Do feel free to leave any comments you have about the story or characters. Constructive criticisms are welcome too. I will also try my best to answer any questions you have if you review or PM me about them.**

**Also, do PM me if any of you would like to help beta my story? I realise that even rereading my work sometimes isn't enough for me to spot my mistakes.**

_**Now, addressing (Guest) reviews...**_

**To Sahara: I actually wiki-ed the Hufflepuff dorm, then reimagined it. Glad you liked it~ Yeah, they're called dormitories (someone correct me if I'm wrong?)**

**To I live 2 comment: Thank you so much for that lovely review. Really appreciate your support for Hufflepuff Naru/Hari XD I was originally reluctant to put her there, but on prompting by a certain awesome reviewer ( KoriYukiYao, once again, thank you), I sat down and really thought about it, then realised Hufflepuff would probably be for the best ^^" I've stopped working already and am preparing for University interviews now. Thanks for the encouragement! ^_^**

**To Yukinaru Suzumi: I'm really flattered by your comments. I apologise if I don't really update very frequently... Heh ^^" As I have stated in the summary, twelve Naruto characters will be reincarnated. I have planned who these characters will be, and if I decide to add any more to the number, they will only be very briefly mentioned characters who play no main role in this story. There will be one jounin sensei reincarnated. Any hints or clues as to who else I'll reincarnate will be given later in the story :)**

**To the Guest who reviewed on March 3: Don't worry ^_^ I won't be pairing Hari with Cedric. They'll just be friends. And I don't mind it when readers give advice or voice their opinions. After all, some of you do have quite brilliant ideas. Glad I haven't turned you away with the Hufflepuff Sorting, as I feel it's quite ideal for the story ^^" About finishing the story... I'll try my best! (And hopefully I'll be able to write enough for a sequel.)**

**To the Guest who reviewed on March 6: Thanks for the support~ Glad you enjoyed the story! *glomps* XD**

**Once again, to all other Guest reviewers, if you don't leave something for me to address you by, I can't direct replies to your reviews here ^^" Hope you don't mind if I start addressing you by the date of your review instead.**

* * *

**And I apologise to those whose questions I've missed out. If you're not a guest on this site, PM me and I'll reply by my next update. I promise.**


	10. Non-Lessons

**Here's Part Two of Chapter Nine, in other words, a continuation of a chapter I split into two. So I apologise if the chapter seems a bit... short... or um, abrupt (?) Mostly interaction with friends (ugh I always fret over writing interactions 'cuz it's easy to write them wrong/out of character...). Hope you guys'll enjoy reading this anyway. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything canon to Naruto or Harry Potter.**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing/emphasised words_

_cancelled words_ (because doesn't seem to allow for strikethrough effects) **]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs **_person B's writing_ ]**

* * *

Chapter Nine, Part Two: Non-Lessons

_... So teach us things worth knowing,  
__Bring back what we've forgot,  
__Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
__And learn until our brains all rot._

* * *

Defence Against the Dark Arts, DADA for short, had a period after lunch. And Hari was looking forward to it. Riddle had told introduced her to Defence _and _the Dark Arts, and it sounded really fun (even though she was a bit wary about the Dark Arts bit). However, Professor Quirrel turned out to be as terrible a teacher as Professor Binns. The only interesting thing about Quirrel was the stories he told on the reason for the garlic smell that was always in the air around him, and the origins of his purple turban. He still gave her a funny feeling which Kurama was extremely suspicious about, and the occasional pain in her scar, which Riddle did not like (because only _he_ was allowed to give her headaches in that way).

However, the class was certainly made a lot more bearable by the presence of the Slytherins. It was the first lesson that the Badgers were sharing with the Snakes, and therefore, incidentally, the first time Hari got to talk to Draco since school started, and Hari was quite justified in looking forward to it. After all, the Slytherin boy seemed like he might have been avoiding her since the Sorting, and she did recall the conversation in Madam Malkin's shop about his distaste for Hufflepuff.

Ten minutes before the class began, Hari was seated at a desk situated right in the middle of the empty room (because Hermione had rushed the three of them to class as she didn't want to be late herself), thinking up a prank, which was proving a lot harder than she expected, mainly because she wasn't sure who to target. The Hufflepuffs seemed like they might take her pranks in stride and with good humour, but they were so _nice_. And she couldn't decide which House to target (since there weren't any individuals who annoyed her to get specially pranked yet, though if she found out that Draco was indeed ignoring her, and the reason was her House… Well she would show him what it's like to underestimate the supposed House of the Nice and Friendly Badgers.)

Just as Hari decided Gryffindor would be good, since the Weasley twins were there, a small group of Hufflepuffs entered the classroom, followed by a small group of Slytherins who chose to linger at the threshold of the classroom. Hari glanced to the side and waved at Susan, Hannah, Ernie and Megan, indicating for them to sit by themselves today.

Hari immediately kept her pencil and notebook, taking out the DADA textbook instead. She could automatically sense Draco's magical chakra signature (a result of three days of constantly looking out for him, trying to sense him and approach him) in the group and turned. Sure enough, he was with his two minions, a Slytherin girl that _might_ look pretty if she smiled (genuine smiles) more, and the dark-skinned Slytherin boy who was Sorted last. What was his name? Some weird name that sounded very foreign.

"Draco, can I sit somewhere with you? Blaise can sit with Crabbe or Goyle," Hari heard the girl saying (in a disgustingly sweet voice) as she focused her hearing, which was improved by her time as a kunoichi as well as Kurama's presence.

Blaise. Right. What was the surname? Z-something?

_Zabini. He's probably the son of the Black Widow, Serafina Zabini, _Riddle said._ A Neutral Pureblood, a dark beauty who remarried five times—at least, that was the count the last time we met—due to all her husbands dying mysteriously and each one leaving her with a lot of gold._

"Draaaco~ there's a stupid Hufflepuff sitting in one of the good seats. Let's make him move. The professor's not here yet anyway."

Her voice was decidedly annoying, like green apples painted red and perhaps soaked in so much sugared water that it became wrinkled. Hari rocked backwards—_dangerously_, Riddle added—on her chair (until the chair was leaning backwards on two legs) and grinned at the group near the door with her head tilted back, which meant that her view of them was upside-down.

"Hello, said Hufflepuff can hear you and said Hufflepuff is a 'her' not a 'him'," Hari said, and grinned further when she saw Draco blink slowly at her, as if he couldn't quite comprehend seeing her, and the Slytherin girl gasp as her face became a dried tomato—scrunched up and red.

"Hari?" Draco said tentatively (as if he didn't quite believe who it was that he was seeing), almost at the same time as Slytherin Girl who sneered and said, "You're a girl? Look at that hair! Did someone jinx your hair so that you had to cut it off yourself? Or is that some sort of Muggle hair style?"

"Yes, Draco. Finally! I was becoming quite convinced that you'd forgotten about my existence!" Hari exclaimed, ignoring Slytherin Girl (her hair was _quite fine_, thank you very much, and despite what people may think, she had tried to _comb_ it neat before). "I know that we established how much or a reckless idiot I am, so maybe that's why you forgot me since I ended up in Hufflepuff, hence I apologise for not getting into Gryffindor, but it really was the Sorting Hat's fault. It did consider Gryffindor, you know, but I think it thought sending me to Hufflepuff was a lot more entertaining or something."

"Hey, Mudblood! I was talking to you! And who said you could talk to _my_ Draco like that?" Slytherin Girl fumed. By then, Hari's housemates were watching the scene, along with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. At this point, only Riddle's lessons on how to deal with people like her prevented Hari from doing what she might have done in the previous life i.e. jumping on the table and yelling at the girl, or punching her and starting a catfight, or throwing anything within reach at her, or anything equally Gryffindorish.

Instead, Hari focused on Draco who looked very exasperated, and infinitely better to look at than Slytherin Girl. His why-does-this-happen-to-me face was rather entertaining. Hari grinned.

"Come on, Draco. I saved you a seat," she said and gestured to the table beside hers. "Unless you prefer to sit with your housemates. Then you'd have to find a seat elsewhere 'cause I'm not moving."

(What Hari didn't add was that she would be quite disappointed if he didn't join her because she might then end up either sitting alone, which she didn't really didn't like to do, or sitting with Zacharias Smith, which was bound to happen since Wayne and Justin were bound to sit together instead of with _him_, and she'd definitely prefer sitting alone than with that annoying guy.)

But Hari didn't have to worry, because Draco walked over to her table and sat on her left, despite Slytherin Girl's loud gasp of outrage. Hari was very pleased (and smug).

"Better a Hufflepuff than a Gryffindor, I suppose," the Malfoy scion said with a sigh. "Though it would have been nicer if you were smart enough to get into Ravenclaw."

"Nah, the Hat actually considered me more Slytherin than Ravenclaw," Hari replied as she rocked her chair back to its original position, keeping to herself the fact that the Hat had almost put her in Ravenclaw for the fun of it. She still shuddered at the thought of all those _books_ and _studying_.

"Wait a minute," Slytherin Girl said, storming towards them. "Who do you think you are? Draco—"

"I believe that would be Harriet Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived," Blaise commented lightly, interrupting Slytherin Girl. He sounded amused, which Hari decided must be a good thing. He gestured at her. "The scar on her forehead was quite obvious when she leaned backwards earlier."

His comment was quite true, as the messy bangs that usually covered the lightning-shaped scar had flopped away from her forehead when she tilted her head to look at them upside-down. Hari's hair did not defy gravity after all, unlike a certain silver-haired copycat shinobi. Riddle thought it was a wonder that Slytherin Girl had managed to miss the scar he had marked her with.

Seriously… Hari turned to Draco, who was watching them warily.

"_Who?_" Hari deadpanned, and Riddle chuckled when Draco sighed a bigger sigh and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where they were. (Hari personally thought that her resident Dark Lord should laugh more, no matter how creepy it was to hear him express genuine humour.)

"You kn—" Draco stopped. Hesitated. Then, "You must be suffering from a very bad case of mental retardation. Would you like to visit the Hospital Wing? If a Killing Curse rebounded off your forehead leaves behind side-effects which consists of brain damage and occasional lapse in memory—"

"Fine. _Fine._ I couldn't resist," Hari said sheepishly, flapping her hands as if she could wave his words away.

"Draco, are you _friends_ with _her?_" Slytherin Girl demanded, having watched their interaction and didn't seem to be able to believe her eyes.

But before Draco could reply, Hari cut in blithely, "I don't think so, not yet at least. I'm not sure how well Malfoy here understands the concept of 'friends', that is, people who are not just allies or followers or minions."

Draco made an indignant sound, but did not say anything as Slytherin Girl turned to Hari with narrowed eyes. "Then who do you think you are to him?"

"Oh, someone who so happens to be the Girl-Who-Lived and the wizarding world's Saviour, which means an excellent potential ally and connection which he could benefit from later in his potential political career… or even his status in school," Hari replied, unbothered. Riddle had already explained all this to her, amongst other things, such as the Slytherin Hierarchy, which confused her immensely. She didn't really care though.

Draco was only an eleven-year-old boy brought up in a pureblood Slytherin family, taught their beliefs and way of life, but ultimately, still a young child (with an impressionable mind) and Hari was definitely teaching him what true friendship was and hoping he'd learn by the end of the year, preferably without too extreme a demonstration of it i.e. a very dangerous situation that would call upon utmost trust, loyalty and selflessness or some tragic death.

_For a moment there, you sounded like a Slytherin with the heart of Hufflepuff,_ Riddle commented idly.

**_I'm sure she got her snake mind from you. She used to work her Therapy-no-Jutsu in a more… Gryffindor way, _**Kurama responded. He was mostly silent these days, and Hari swears he's become rather lazy from a lack of 'activity', sleeping the days away within her. Hari wasn't sure if she minded—on one hand, that meant no constant danger of dying or getting seriously hurt (which used to happen quite often back in the shinobi days and when Hari had yet to remember her past life), but on the other hand, it meant less excitement and Hari somewhat missed the adrenaline rushed days. Riddle would scowl whenever she mentioned her restlessness though—_recklessness_, he called it.

"But you're a _Hufflepuff!"_ Slytherin Girl sounded very peeved. Hari raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"_Tch!_ Never mind!" Slytherin Girl exclaimed in response. "But _I_ got Draco first. I've known him since forever. So go sit somewhere else for today. Maybe I'll let you sit with him some other time."

Hari scowled. Could she punch the girl, break her nose, and wipe everyone's memories after? Kami knows she learnt from Sakura how to punch someone properly… and _effectively_. (Sakura's punch was one punch from hell, surpassing all other kunoichi's super-punches. Then again, she was taught by Ol' Tsunade.)

_Hebi-sensei, who is this girl? _Hari asked. She felt Riddle mentally eying the girl with raised eyebrows.

_I'm not sure. I don't think her parents were Death Eaters. The Parkinsons, perhaps? They're Dark supporters, but they didn't exactly join me. Like the Blacks. Well, except that brat but never mind him._

Hari decided not to ask for now, but filed away the fact that there was a 'Black brat' who was a Death Eater.

"Fine. So you got Draco first. But I got this seat first. So if you want to sit with him, you guys'll have to sit somewhere else," Hari drawled, in a rather good imitation of an arrogant Pureblood Slytherin. Naturally, Slytherin Girl was not pleased.

"Pansy, why don't you sit here?" Draco finally spoke up, and a glance at him told Hari that he looked as amused as Blaise, while he gestured to the empty tables and seats beside them, on the 'Slytherin side' of the room. "I don't think you can win an argument with Hari. Believe me, I've tried."

Slytherin-Girl-who-is-probably-Pansy-Parkinson looked very betrayed.

_While the Malfoy brat is… right, I'm not sure how well this would bode for their relationship, _Riddle pointed out.

_Relationship? You mean in Slytherin? How so? _

_I wouldn't have to explain this to you if you paid more attention when I taught you about the hierarchy system in Slytherin!_

_It's long, boring and complicated. Like politics, _Hari grumbled. Aloud, she asked Draco, "Are you… Uh…" _The Prince of Slytherin. It's too early for him to be King. _"… The Prince of Slytherin? Kami_, _that sounds weird_._"

Draco stared at her. "Yes, I suppose you could say that."

_If you're going to be his friend, or, from his point of view, a beneficial ally, let him sit with the Slytherins. You can try and sit with him later on in the year, when his position is more secured,_ instructed Riddle.

_I don't want to end up sitting with Smith! _Hari protested.

"Why?"

"Because Smith is rude and selfish, and generally unpleasant," Hari replied, earning her a raised eyebrow from Draco, and realised that she had accidentally replied Draco's question with an answer meant for Riddle.

"I'm not sure how that is related?" Draco questioned, as if he were mildly concerned for her mental health. There was nothing wrong with her mental health, thank you very much.

**_And you've got two other voices in your head, _**Kurama commented unhelpfully. Hari ignored him.

"Well, are you willing to have a potential mark on your reputation as Slytherin Prince by choosing a Hufflepuff over one of your own, just to sit with me? Or whatever you think you might gain from sitting with me? Which, for today's lesson, isn't much, if anything at all," she said instead. "Because having me as your ally, acquaintance, whatever, is one thing. Sitting, for no reason I can see, with me, is another."

Draco's raised eyebrow went even higher, which Hari thought shouldn't be possible. But before he could say anything, Blaise cut in, laughing.

"Looks like Harriet Potter the Hufflepuff is rather interesting. Draco, can we keep her?"

"What?!" Probably-Parkinson spluttered—a very un-ladylike and un-Slytherin behaviour, Riddle observed.

"That depends," Draco told Blaise, before smirking at Hari. "Weren't you the one who wanted to be friends? And believe that I don't know what a 'friend' is? Perhaps you are right, but I have heard that friends do not have to sit beside each other for any reason aside from the fact that they are _friends_. And did you not want us to sit together? So why are you worrying about my reputation? I doubt you care about a _Slytherin's_ reputation of all things. I don't think you're the type to care about others' reputations in relation to your own social status in the first place, and it's not like you can gain much by associating with Slytherins anyway. But no. You want to be _friends_. Is that the reason? In that case, well, correct me, Blaise, if I'm wrong, but isn't friendship, like any other relationship, a two-way thing? So allow me to sit here lest you have to sit alone, or sit with the terror you have named Smith."

"No, I don't think you're wrong. But I can't believe I'm hearing you say this," Blaise continued laughing. "And I'm the wrong person to ask about Hufflepuff relationships. I mean, look at my mother!"

"Yes, well, the only way to reason with a Badger is to speak their language," Draco replied casually. "Especially since said-Badger knows ours."

"Though one wonders how a Badger knows the language of Snakes," Blaise commented and smoothly slid into the seat at the table on the other side of her, which was incidentally, the 'Hufflepuff side' of the room. "Come on, Goyle. Sit down with me."

Hari chose not to mention that she did know the language of Snakes, literally. Instead, she watched as Goyle look exceedingly confused, looking back and forth from Blaise to Draco.

"But… Uh… Malfoy, I'm not a 'Puff," he finally said.

Draco rolled his eyes. "So? Go sit with Blaise."

Goyle blinked several times before moving to sit beside Blaise.

"Your minions are not very intelligent," Hari commented to Draco, who scoffed and replied, "They're minions. They only need enough intelligence to follow orders. Crabbe, go sit with Pansy."

"Ah, well, do introduce me to the rest of your… company," Hari said.

Draco gestured to Probably-Parkinson, "She's Pansy Parkinson, Pureblood. A possible candidate for a fiancé, if our parents decide to match-make us. Otherwise, I'd have to court her, assuming I grow to have feelings for her, but I'm eleven. So let's not think about that."

Then he gestured at Blaise, "He's Blaise Zabini, also a Pureblood. I think he might be thinking about being my friend as well, though we've all actually known one another since we were seven. The two of you will probably get along well. Too well, in fact."

Blaise was nodding along with a grin, and he stuck out a hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Harriet Potter."

Hari shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you too, Blaise Zabini. Can I call you Blaise?"

"Of course. Draco called you Hari, right? Can I call you Hari?"

Hari pretended to think about it. "I need a partner-in-crime. If you join me, you can call me Hari."

Blaise chuckled. "What does that entail?"

"Oh, the usual… Pranking, exasperating and annoying Draco being the main thing…"

"Count me in. I live to exasperate and annoy people," Blaise said, while Draco made an odd noise that sounded like he had tried to hold in a sputter. Then he made another sound, which was most definitely a groan.

"I should have known this was going to be a bad idea," he mumbled, his face in his hands.

"Don't worry, Draco. I won't exasperate or annoy you, let alone prank you," Parkinson said reassuringly from the other side. Blaise leaned across the space between their tables to whisper into Hari's ear.

"Be patient. She's not so bad some times. She's probably just jealous of you at the moment. I think we might be able to convert her. I've been trying to for years, but now that you're here, it should be easier."

"Jealous? Whatever for?" Hari whispered back.

"Draco's attention of course. And he chose to sit beside you instead of her. Don't understand why he did though. I mean, _I'd_ rather sit with you. You're more fun. But Draco seems like he might enjoy Pansy's company more than yours."

They both turned to look at the Malfoy scion, who was alternating between giving them suspicious looks and greeting the table with his forehead.

"What are you two whispering about?" Draco demanded when he realised they were looking at him.

"Well—"

Just then, Professor Quirrel entered the classroom with a few other students behind him. He didn't have Professor Snape's dark aura, nor Professor McGonagall's commanding presence. The only thing about him that drew Hari's attention was a strange prickling sensation in her head, where her scar was. A bit like the feeling she sometimes gets when Riddle is agitated.

"Twitchy man, isn't he?" Blaise commented. Hari had to agree. He really didn't look like he was suitable to teach them—pale, nervous with eyes that darted about as if he was about to get attacked by eleven-year-olds. And she only noticed it then, but there was a funny smell about him. _Garlic?_

Soon the students that had just arrived settled down. Smith sat alone, at the back of the class, Wayne and Justin sat together, one pair of tables away from Blaise and Goyle. Hari recognised two of the Slytherins that had just entered, one of them courtesy of Riddle. Daphne Greengrass sat behind Parkinson, while Theodore Nott (his looks resembled his father's, and his father apparently served Riddle before) sat beside Crabbe. There were two other Slytherin girls that sat behind Daphne, whom neither Hari nor Riddle recognised.

And DADA class began. And it was a joke. Because Professor Quirrel could not teach. Oh, he tried to. Between the stuttering, the shaking hands and the overall frightened-to-death atmosphere surrounding him, the class learnt more by reading their textbooks than listening to him. And DADA was a lesson that should consist more practice than theory.

"We are going to fail our tests at this rate," Blaise muttered to Hari halfway through the lesson.

"There's always self-study and self-practice," Hari whispered back. Riddle would not accept failure, or even an ordinary pass, because he was the top of the class, and there was no way he was going to let his host accomplish any less than that. Hari had then reminded him about Hermione, and he merely told her she had better beat her.

"Self-study I can do. Self-practice?"

"Green sparks… Red sparks… Lighting and extinguishing your wand shouldn't be a problem," Hari replied, flipping through the DADA textbook. "Creating a smokescreen too. We can always practice the other spells on each other, or maybe Draco… We'll need to learn the counter-curses too though. They aren't in here. And there's stuff about Dark creatures…"

"Which I doubt we need any more than self-study for unless you're a Gryff. No way in hell am I going to visit the Forbidden Forest," Blaise commented, flipping through his as well. "Have you read the Fourth Year version?"

"No… It's for Fourth Year," Hari pointed out. "Why?"

"Some of the older students were talking about Unforgivable curses."

Hari studiously ignored the sudden excitement in her head, and asked, "What are they?"

Both Riddle and Blaise answered her. Blaise didn't sound as maliciously gleeful about the curses as Riddle, but he did sound interested. Hari decided to remind Riddle that it was his beloved 'Killing Curse' that betrayed him.

"M-Miss P-Potter a-and M-Mister B-Blai-Blaise… P-Please re-refrain from t-t-talking in c-class..." Professor Quirrel stuttered. Hari sighed. It wasn't that she disliked him or anything. The poor teacher looked like he should be at home resting with a hot water bottle instead of teaching.

_Well, _I_ don't like him, _Riddle said, scowling in her mind. _He's pathetic. I've finally figured out why he sounds off. That stutter. It sounds… fake. I could stutter better than him. And I don't stutter. So he's hiding behind that persona for some reason, and I don't care what the reason is, but… I cannot stand his acting._

Hari nearly rolled her eyes. They now have a suspicious teacher and all Riddle is concerned about is the man's acting. Hari, meanwhile, was more disturbed by the stabs of pain in her head whenever their eyes met. Riddle seemed unaffected by it, though he was aware of the occurrence.

_So long as you stay alive, don't threaten my existence, continue helping me get a body, and stay at the top of the class, I don't care, _he had said, when they talked about it.

After Defence lesson, they had a free period, and Hari was about to say goodbye to the Slytherins and look for Hermione and Ron, when Blaise asked her if she wanted to join them by the Black Lake, much to Pansy's grief.

"Can Hermione and Ron come along?" Hari asked.

Blaise frowned slightly, as he tried to identify their names. "Who?"

"Granger, a Mudb—Muggleborn Raven, and Weasley, a Lion, naturally," Draco replied with a sneer (the sneer wasn't nice, but Hari thought it was good of him to make an effort to avoid saying 'Mudblood' and 'Weasel' like she knew he wanted to). "I don't think either would enjoy spending time in our company."

"Why is_ she_ even in our company?" Parkinson demanded. Hari couldn't help but realise that Blaise was right. She was acting like Ino or Sakura whenever Naruko used to try and sit with Sasuke just to annoy him (back in the Academy days, after Naruko convinced herself that sitting beside the 'teme' would irritate him more than it would irritate her). But she had never succeeded in getting either Sakura or Ino to annoy or exasperate Sasuke (on purpose), so she wondered if a team up between Blaise and Hari would make it easier to convince Parkinson.

"In that case, I should probably go. Either of them would not be pleased if I make them wait with each other. Don't really understand why they just can't get along for a few minutes without me," Hari said, hefting her satchel over her shoulder.

"I don't blame them, really. That Weasley is worse than a Muggleborn, A complete shame to Wizardkind," Draco commented almost scathingly. "And Granger is just another Muggleborn know-it-all."

Hari swallowed and nearly choked on her own laughter, because even though she knew Draco had a point (regarding Hermione being smarter than Ron, and needing help in not… well, seeming like a know-it-all), it was rather unkind.

It didn't help when she found them standing outside the Great Hall, Hermione quoting from _Hogwarts a History_—again—and Ron looking like he would have punched her if she hadn't been a girl.

Hari had little doubt that by the end of the year, she would have remembered that History book by page, paragraph, line and word, courtesy of Hermione's constant quotations and reminders. Which would be more than Professor Binns would probably ever teach.

* * *

**That's all for now~ Please review! Feel free to leave comments or questions or PM me about any concerns you might have. FYI, I'm thinking of writing a one-shot side-fic for the 100th reviewer if said reviewer has any side-fic prompts or ideas for me. I'm new to writing with prompts, but I've thought about doing one before. So 100th-Reviwer-san, it's up to you if you want to take this up~**

**Also, I'm still looking for a beta. Anyone?**

**Next Update: By the end of July (Yeah that's three months. I'd say June, but I really don't know how busy I'll get so I'm playing it safe. Sorry for having to make you guys wait ^^")**


	11. Special Chapter One

**Alright, so I know I promised another chapter by the end of July, but as you can see, that's not quite happening. The next chapter is only halfway done, and I might upload it in mid-August or September. Sorry about that but I've been busy, cuz of university projects and stuff (excuses, excuses, yeah I know, but it's true though ^^") **

**Instead, here's a special chapter, an omake if you will, to placate you guys. Requested by the 104th reviewer (because the 100th reviewer did not request for anything and TrenchcoatMan reviewed on the same day, and gave me an interesting idea), a prompt for a short story, which I will state at the end of this chapter. **

**You guys can take this chapter as Second-Chance-(SC)-Canon, but do not worry about spoilers. At most you'll be getting hints on what will happen. I might make references to this chapter later in the story, but this chapter won't actually play a major part in the future of the story. Except maybe giving you guys a glimpse of more character interactions and... well, hints. Haha.**

**Oh, and many thanks to my new beta... Yukinaru Suzumi~! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything canon to Naruto or Harry Potter.**

* * *

**[** "Normal speech in English/Normal speech in another language ('un-translated')"

_"Normal speech in another language ('translated')."_

_§Parseltongue ('translated' obviously)§_

_Thoughts/Mind speech/Otherworldly (including prophesies) speech/letter writing/emphasised words_

_cancelled words_ (because doesn't seem to allow for strikethrough effects) **]**

***Speech/Mind-speech in bold = demon speech/mind-speech**

**and when something is written in someone else's handwriting but on the same paper e.g. in a letter, it'll be in bold:**

**[** _person A's writing_ vs **_person B's writing_ ]**

* * *

Special Chapter One: Halcyon Days

_And so they fought._

_ And so they laughed._

_Friends._

_ And before they knew it,_

_They were inseparable._

* * *

July was as blistering hot as usual, and while Harriet remembered a time when months were spent in the humid warmth of Konoha, or the days in the melting sun of Suna, she was nevertheless extremely irritable, sitting in the garden, taking a break from pruning the flowers. Of course, there was no need for her to do any gardening, not when she could probably convince Aunt Petunia to do the work herself, but she soon realised that Aunt Petunia's gardening meant too-straight hedges and too-neat flowerbeds. And she couldn't stand it. It wasn't natural, and made their garden look pretty much like all the other gardens in Privet Drive.

_Now if only you would just master that Cooling Charm I taught you_, Riddle said patronisingly. _Really, it shouldn't be too hard for you to do. I'm not even expecting you to do it non-verbally or wandlessly._

_But it is! I don't understand how you can even think about anything cooling in this heat! I think I must have forgotten what the cold is like, _Harriet whined.

_Don't be dramatic, _Riddle chided. _You've experienced heat worse than this before. I don't understand why you can't just cast the spell, though I wonder if that mangy ball of fur is responsible for your lack in aptitude for the charm, when you've easily mastered others._

**_So you're saying it's my fault, eh? You miserable scrap of a soul!_**

_Your fur is practically made of fire. It only makes sense that—_

_Alright, alright, you two. Shut up. I don't need a headache on top of this bloody heat, _Harriet interjected before they could engage in a full-blown quarrel. She hefted the shears in her left hand—just to make sure her non-dominant hand didn't become too disused—and resumed snipping away the dead leaves and flowers of the camellias.

What Riddle suggested sounded plausible, and as an alternative to her pathetic Cooling Charm, she had tried coaxing out a breeze before. She got a face full of hot dry wind instead, and she didn't try it again.

Just as Hari was just about to give up and shower herself with the garden hose, Fuyu cannonballed into the garden before swooping back up towards her in a display of aerial acrobatics.

"Show off," she greeted her snowy owl fondly, and stretched out an arm for the bird to land on. There was a letter tied to the owl's leg, and Hari detached it carefully.

She automatically recognised Hermione's neat and rounded cursive, having looked at her friend's notes more times than she could count (because no matter how much Riddle tries to make her study, her attempts, hindered by her natural aversion to studying, could never compare to the Ravenclaw's).

The letter read:

_Dear Hari,_

_Sorry for the late reply. I'd have sent this the ordinary way—that is, Muggle post—but then I realised I didn't have enough stamps, and when we got back from New Zealand—and yes, it was very nice, absolutely beautiful, thank you—Fuyu was already waiting at my window._

_I've received a letter from Ron, and he says you haven't been replying to his mail. Is anything wrong between the two of you? _

_Apparently his Dad is very keen on exploring Muggle London, but Mr Weasley has never had a proper guide before. Ron's suggesting we have a field trip of sorts to Muggle London, the three of us, his family, and maybe Neville? I'd suggest asking Malfoy as well—and Zabini, perhaps? —Since you two get along quite well and it'd be a good opportunity to properly educate that prat about Muggles, but I'm not sure how well that'd turn out. Ron is rather against the idea, what with their family feud and all._

_So, what do you think? It should be fun. We haven't gone out together out of school before. _

_With love, _

_From your friend,_

_Hermione_

Hari read the letter twice, frowning as she did so. Ron had been trying to send her letters? Well, she certainly hadn't been receiving any from him. In fact, the only letters she has been receiving were from Sasuke and Hermione. How strange.

She hadn't been very bothered by the lack of letters from her other friends, because well… Neville was still rather shy, and she thought she'd give him some time before he truly opened up to them. And as for Draco, well, she had no idea what his family thought of her. For all she knew, his parents may well be against communicating with her any more than necessary for acquaintanceship, what with her being a half-blood and a Hufflepuff. Not to mention that the trip included their blood-feud-enemy and a 'Mudblood'. Hari had expected to get letters from Ron, but when he didn't write any… she figured it might have something to do with having several other siblings, two of which were Hari's rivals in pranking.

But know that she knew he had tried, and succeeded with Hermione… could her Uncle be responsible for the missing letters? He hated anything magical, and would probably prefer if she had no contact with the Wizarding World… He wouldn't dare touch Fuyu or Takatsuki, but any other letter-carrying bird…

That mystery could be solved later. First, she had to know: _Will London be any cooler than here?_

* * *

London, as it turned out, was only a little more than 35km away from Surrey as the crow flies, and was just as warm. Luckily for Hari, both Hermione and Draco did know how to perform a Cooling Charm.

"I still don't understand why I'm here."

To be honest, Hari wasn't quite sure either, but Draco had agreed without much persuasion needed on her part. Blaise was there with them as well, and Hari wondered if _he_ had been the one to convince the Malfoy boy to come along. In any case, unlike the blonde, the dark-skinned Slytherin seemed to be enjoying himself, teasing Ron until his ears turned red, and making conversation with Hermione about some books that Hari had never heard of before. Unfortunately, Neville didn't come along in the end.

"To learn more about Muggle culture, of course, since you are so woefully lacking in any accurate knowledge about—"

"Yes, Mu-Granger, that is why I was invited. But it doesn't explain why I'm going along with your plan!"

"Really Hermione, I told you this would happen. The git just doesn't appreciate your efforts. I bet he was going to call you a Mudblood earlier!"

"Well he didn't. And it's not as if you appreciate my efforts in making you study harder."

"That's different!"

Hari felt a ticklish breath at her ear, and nearly jumped, cursing her lack of attentiveness to her surroundings. She was an ex-kunoichi for kami's sake!

"Wanna bet they'll get together by the end of fourth year?" Blaise whispered conspiratorially.

Hari glanced at him. "Ron and Hermione?"

"Who else? Draco's straight as far as I know, and he wouldn't go for a blood traitor anyway, let alone a Muggleborn."

Hari chose not to comment on what she now termed as 'bloodism'. Instead, she wondered aloud, as she stared at the arguing 'couple'. "Would they take that long?"

"With Weasley's thickhead, definitely."

Hari hummed, as she rolled the question over to Riddle, who had been silent for some time, probably still in shock at the idea of a Weasley, a Malfoy, a Muggleborn, and the Girl-Who-Lived going window-shopping in Muggle London. Unsupervised. (Mr Weasley had disappeared into a shop selling electrical appliances and both Ron and Mr Weasley had agreed it was best for them to move on without him, because he was bound to spend another hour in there staring at plugs and batteries.) Not to mention that among the children, there was one Gryffindor, two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw—_You could call it House unity, Hebi-sensei, _Hari had told him with amused patience. _Though it's not as if we're all getting along like one big family. The world's not going to end just yet. _

Riddle pondered over the relationship between Ron and Hermione, though to be honest, the two of them knew next to nothing about romance besides what they had observed before as a third party.

In the end Hari took the bet. Both Hari and Blaise agreed upon betting five galleons—not too much money even though the both of them were rich, and not too little either. Draco kept giving them suspicious glances the whole time they spent whispering to each other.

"Keep this up and people will start thinking you're a couple," he commented with a well-practiced sneer to hide his wariness of them. Hari might be a Hufflepuff, but he had learnt a long time ago not to underestimate her.

"We're partners-in-crime, dear Draco," Blaise replied with a chuckle.

"Purely business relationship, you know," Hari added mock-seriously.

Draco threw his hands up in the air dramatically—_his father will have a fit seeing him behave like this, _Riddle muttered—and groaned, "Seriously, why am I here?"

Hari turned to Blaise. "How did you get him here? And how did you convince Mr Malfoy to let him come?"

Blaise gave her a wide Cheshire-Cat-grin in reply. "Do you know just how useful your name and title are?"

"He convinced Father that all of this is to get into your good books. And he failed to mention that the Weasels and a Mud-Muggleborn would be coming along," Draco elaborated irritably.

"Don't sulk, Draco, it's unbecoming," Hari chided, imitating the mannerisms of a pureblood mother. (Riddle had plenty of memories for her to refer to, having been invited to meet several of his 'friends' families before.)

The blonde merely gave her an unimpressed glare, crossing his arms as he did so. "This place is a mess. There are Muggles everywhere, the horseless carriages make such a horrendous grating cacophony with their screeching and bellowing and rumbling, and no one seems to know how to behave like civilised human beings! I mean, look at those-those vagabonds over there for example! Is that-do you even call that a dance?! And they expect people to pay them for it! And—"

Hari silenced him with a wave of her hand, something she had mastered quite easily after doing it a few times to her uncle with accidental magic. She rarely did such acts of wandless magic, as it only brought unwanted attention to herself, and Riddle had advised her that underestimation of her abilities could only work to their advantage. Still, there were times like this when she'd prefer not to take her wand out in a Muggle public area, and gained herself wide-eyed-looks from her friends.

"We're in Muggle London. Of course there are Muggles everywhere. And those things are called _cars_. You'll get used to the noise after a while. It's not like Diagon Alley is any quieter than here anyway. And those dancers—yes that is a type of dance—are not vagabonds. Have you heard of the word 'charity'?" Here, Hari gave Draco a pointed look with raised eyebrows, before cancelling the Silencing Charm.

Blaise sniggered as he cut in, waving a newspaper in his hand. "Look, I've bought us a Muggle newspaper. This should be a perfect educational tool for teaching Draco about the Muggle world."

(It should be noted that ironically, Blaise, a proud pureblood, had gotten the hang of using Muggle money faster than Mr Weasley, the fan of all things Muggle.)

Draco scowled at the non-moving pictures on the front page of The Sun. "You expect me to read this piece of—"

"Hey! Check this out!" Ron suddenly yelled, interrupting Draco in his next slew of insults. They turned to look at Ron waving a small orange book, while Hermione tried to grab it from him.

"What a surprise. I didn't know weasels could read," Draco drawled. Hari sighed as Ron's face automatically turned as red as her mother's hair (didn't matter if it was Kushina or Lily, they both had hair redder than a Weasley).

"So what's this amazing book that managed to catch your attention when all others failed?" Blaise asked, walking over.

Ron gave Draco a dark look before holding out the book for all of them to see. "I'm not sure, but from the cover, I think it's about romance. For some reason, it's in Japanese, and I don't understand these… funny lines and squiggles. But guess what? It's written by Asher Merit!"

"Um, who?" Hari asked as she tried to look over Draco's shoulder at the book.

"Oh, I read about him! He's the Auror who is known for his efficiency when hunting down dark wizards and his well-rounded spell repertoire. And he knows five different languages!" Hermione said.

"So Japanese must be one of them," Ron said. "Dad always said he was a weird one."

"How is knowing Japanese weird?" Hari demanded. "I know some Japanese."

"You do?" Ron blurted at the same time as Malfoy muttered, "You _are_ weird."

"So you can read some of this then?" Hermione asked, practically shoving the book in front of Hari's face in her enthusiasm at the prospect of learning something new.

Hari stared at the book in front of her.

And froze.

Then, with forced calmness, she turned to the newsstand. "Are there any other books like this one?"

Ron peered at the books on display, then pointed at one of them. "Nope. But there is another Japanese book here. Written by someone called Loki… Hayes. Hayes. Why does that sound familiar?"

"It's a Grey pureblood family in Norway. Well, officially, they're Grey, but really. They're about as Dark as the Blacks are," Draco said.

"Oh, of course you would know some Dark family from another country," Ron said rudely. "All of you best friends with You-Know-Who. I bet you're all pen pals, exchanging letters on how to suck up to him and avoid getting caught."

"My father was under the Imperius! And I'll have you know; our family only knows the Hayes because our great-grandparents used to be friends, before the Hayes moved to Norway."

"Yeah right. You just admitted it! Your families are friends!"

"_Used to be_. Salazar, you're deaf, aren't you? No wonder—"

"That's enough!" Hari interrupted. "Shut up before I silence the two of you."

Ron gave her a betrayed look. "But Malfoy—that slimy git—didn't you hear him? He—"

"Of course she did. And I bet she has better hearing than you! Look at that, a Lion being inferior to a Badger! Why, I'd—"

Hari sighed, long and hard. She turned to Blaise and Hermione. "There's no stopping them, is there?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I'm actually surprised they've only just started."

Blaise nodded along. "I was surprised from the very beginning when Draco actually managed to keep his mouth shut upon seeing Mr Weasley. I mean, I nearly vomited when I saw that atrocious Muggle attire! You girls have got to teach him some fashion sense!"

"We'll… try," Hermione said faintly, no doubt recalling the horrid old-fashioned Muggle clothes that Mr Weasley had somehow put together, with colours that clashed horribly with his ginger-red hair. None of them had wanted to tell the excited and very pleased man about his failure at dressing up however.

"Back to the original topic. What's this book about?" Blaise said, gesturing to the book that Hermione was still holding.

Hari coughed uncomfortably. "It's… um… Don't read it. Just… don't read it."

Hermione eyed the book critically. "Have you read it before?"

"No," Hari replied hastily. "But I know of someone who has read it before."

_Liar,_ Riddle pointed out, sounding very amused. _You know, I didn't think you were the type to—_

_No! I read it out of curiosity! And it turned out to be quite useful! _Hari protested. When Riddle merely chuckled, she groaned.

_Nonono! I don't know what you're thinking, but that's not it! It's just… ugh. Kurama, show him the memories of the second bell-test._

Aloud, she added, "But I have read the other one before. The one on that shelf that Ron pointed at just now."

Blaise took the book off the shelf and flipped through the pages. "Really? So what's this one about?"

"A boy named after some fishcake, but he's kinda cool, because eh… Actually, he's Gryffindor-ish, so he has this noble goal of wanting to destroy this 'curse' that—"

"You need to work on your book-recommendation skills, Hari," Blaise observed. "Never mind. I'll check it out myself. I'll just have to get my mother to teach me some Japanese."

"Your mother knows Japanese?" Hermione questioned, amazed.

He gave her a flat look. "With the number of husbands she's had, it's not a wonder she picked up a language or two."

Hermione shut up after that.

The rest of the trip passed by uneventfully (after Hari silenced the two arguing boys before they could start hexing each other), and they went their separate ways after meeting up with Mr Weasley and having dinner at a Muggle fast food outlet.

* * *

—Ronald? As in…?

—No, Mr Weasley, it's _MacDonald's_, not _MacRonald._

_—_McDonagall?

—_Don-ald_. Mac-_Don-ald._

—Can I have a McLaggen meal?

—_What?_ No! Zabini, don't encourage him.

—Isn't that the Griffindork one year above us?

—G-Gri-Griffin_dork_?

—Ron, that isn't worth turning your ears red over. Excuse me, can I have two McLaggens please?

—_Hariii!_

* * *

It was a cold day in November—autumn was giving way to winter with clouded skies and frosty wind—when Blaise found her before classes and told her he'd finished the book, as well as figured out what the other dubious book was about.

"You have a friend who _reads_ that thing?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Hari merely shrugged in response.

"Anyway, you sure you read this book before?" Blaise continued, waving the book he had bought.

Hari frowned slightly. "Yeah, why?"

"Hmm… Your book-recommendation skills really need work. Unless you meant 'curse' in a metaphorical way. And the main character's not a boy, it's a girl."

"… A girl…?"

"Yes, and I thought it'd have some cliché plot with a happily-ever-after ending, but it's surprisingly good. Even if the main character is practically a Gryff. I certainly didn't expect it to be a tragedy."

Hari stared blankly at him. "What?"

He stared back at her oddly. "Are you _really _sure you've read this book before?"

She gingerly took the book from him and flipped to a random page. Then flipped to another random page. And another random page. _What. The. Hell?!_

Then she closed the book and looked up, face carefully expressionless. "Yeah, I've read it before. Must have confused it with another one I've read."

Blaise glanced at her suspiciously. "Okay… If you say so…"

"But I'd like to borrow it. Can I?"

"… Of course, if you'll let me borrow your owl for a bit."

"My owl? Don't you have one? Or at least a family one?"

"Fuyu is the smartest owl I've met thus far," Blaise replied rather vaguely.

Hari raised an eyebrow, not needing Riddle to tell her what the Slytherin boy could possibly use her owl for. "… All right. As long as you're not sending her to some dangerous place or some dangerous person."

"Deal." They shook on it, and Blaise handed Hari the book, before they headed off for their respective classes.

When Blaise was just about to round a corner, he turned back and called out, "You're really sure you've read it before?"

Hari laughed. "Yes, I'm sure."

_After all, this is my life story you're talking about here._

* * *

**Anyone noticed the various references I've made here? If you haven't don't worry. You might get it later XD.**

**And here we go, the prompt I was given:**

_'Harriet and co were out for summer break, just after their first year at Hogwarts, Draco was complaining about how noisy Muggle London was and Ron was browsing some books on a news stand when he picks up a book and shows Draco: "Hey, look at this, looks good!" and everyone turns to see what the red-headed boy was talking about and Harriet's eyes go wide when she see's Ron holding 'Icha Icha Paradise' Book One'.'_

**Hope you guys enjoyed reading this. I might move this chapter to a 'new story' if there are many more of these special chapters, sort of like a 'story' featuring a collection of SC-canon (and maybe non-canon?) omake. **

**Anyway, how was it? Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are all welcome~! If you have any questions or notice something you would like to clarify about or point out, feel free to put them into your review or PM me. I will try my best to answer them. **

_**Now, addressing (Guest) reviews... Assuming you guys read this chapter...**_

**To_ Yukon x zerr_, _hari_, _xxheart_, and _to lazy to log i_: Thanks for the reviews~! I'm pleased you guys have enjoyed the story thus far.**

**To _Yukonmademeread_: Just curious, who are your cousins? Haha help me thank them for recommending this fic? I'm very flattered.**

**To _shu_: Sasuke... will probably not make another appearance until later. Sorry about that ^^"**

**To _Emlights_: Yes, she's probably going to be training, both in magic and jutsu. Haha, wait till someone attacks her. Her first instinct will still probably be a ninja response, considering she has been a kunoichi far longer than she has been a witch. **

**To the Guest who reviewed on April 26: Thank you~! I'm glad to know there's character development. I do try, you see ^^" but i'll never know if I really succeed until you guys review. So once again, thanks!**

**And to all other future guest reviewers, it'd be greatly appreciated if you would leave a name behind for me to address, especially if you're going to ask a question. It can even be just a number or a letter. You know, to differentiate you guys from one another? So I don't end up naming you guys based on the date you review? **

* * *

**Oh, and before I forget, thank you, all of you, for the support thus far XD Please be patient for the next chapter. I will not be on a permanent hiatus anytime soon, so don't worry.**


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